Life and Times Sequel
by Celestial Chaos
Summary: After dealing with just about everything, Piper's children think that they'll get some kind of break. Too bad they don't. More demons and drama abound! Contains slash involving Chris. Sequel to my story "The Life and Times of Wyatt, Chris and Melinda"
1. The Prologue

Author's Notes: So! Here is the sequel to my previous story, _The Life and Times of Wyatt, Chris and Melinda_. I usually don't post stories without having completely finished them, but I'm like, five chapters into the story and I got hit with this awful muse to write stuff for the Covenant, so I thought I would post what I had thus far just so that people didn't have to wait months and months to read this. I had a story a long time ago for the Covenant that was basically me trying to fix some of the horrid plot holes in that movie that I'm working with again, but anyways. Reading this story here really won't make any sense to you unless you've read the previous one, so you should definitely check that out first. ;) If you've read it already, woot! Welcome back to my fiction!

I can't really say much about this story without giving things away. Just know that the start of it (after this little prologue here) is around the end of July. You'll notice that, though, from the story. Mwaha! I hope you all enjoy it as much as you enjoyed the first one. Thank you all for such positive reviews; without them, I probably wouldn't have continued!

As always, these characters aren't mine. They belong to the WB (or the CW, or whatever it is now). I only wish I owned them!

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"Wyatt…are you sure you want to do this? I mean, nobody's forcing you to move out. We know you have school to finish, and you just got that new job not too long ago. Do you really want to—" Piper stopped herself, her breath catching in her throat. "It's just that—"

"—No, Mom, I'm sure." Wyatt unfolded his arms and let out a chuckle. "The spell, it…well, you know. I'd been thinking about it for a while, and I just feel like this is the right time. Chris and Mel can handle themselves if a demon attacks…and you and dad are here…I've been saving up money, at least up until now. And it's better to spend it on an apartment than some random crap, right?"

Piper pursed her lips for a moment.

Leo cleared his throat. "It's okay, Piper. You saw the pamphlets. Wyatt chose a bunch of places right around here…not even twenty minutes away, unless traffic's really bad…"

"Yeah," Wyatt agreed, and with an energy to his voice that obviously was intended to lighten the mood.

"Still, I don't see why he needs to move out right now. He's my baby. He needs to stay here as long as possible."

Wyatt laughed. "Mom, I'm not your baby anymore. I'm your young man, remember? That's what you told me when I turned thirteen. Well," he laughed again, "that's what you cried about…"

Piper laughed despite herself and reached up to shove at Wyatt's shoulder. "Wyatt, that's not funny. Don't kick your mother while she's down."

Silence followed her words as the seriousness of the situation finally began taking its toll on everyone. Wyatt, who was standing near the little love seat in the conservatory, looked over at his parents and smiled a little. Piper reached forward and rubbed his arm while Leo wrapped one of his own arms around his wife's shoulders.

"If you're really serious about this…" Leo began.

"I am, Dad. Really serious. Will you come with me on Saturday to check out one of the places? I need a handyman's opinion." Wyatt grinned.

Leo snorted in amusement. "If you want me to, Wyatt, no problem."

Chris, who was standing in the doorway between the dining room and the kitchen, listened to the conversation of his brother and his parents, a sinking feeling welling up in the pit of his stomach. He hadn't believed Wyatt when he casually mentioned maybe moving out…still hadn't believed him when he showed him the pamphlets of some nearby apartment complexes. Wyatt wouldn't do that, Chris thought. He had free food and board right here at the manor, and he was at his strongest with his family, so there was no reason for him to leave the manor.

But there Wyatt was, hugging their crying mother and almost rocking her in his arms.

The sinking feeling turned into a sudden pain, and then everything faded to black.


	2. Gift Shopping

Author's Notes: Hi all. I have some (slightly) bad news. This story is gonna have to come to a halt, because I managed to write it to a point where I can put it on pause until my life gets under control. I just got a boyfriend a while ago and he's kind of time consuming, plus I'm at 17 credits (4 classes) for my university, and I work about 16-20 hours a week. I just...don't have time to continue it. But like I said, I managed to write it to a point where it'll be a good, hopefully suspenseful pause until I can figure everything out. There's about...4 more chapters? I think, that I need to post. So keep an eye out :) Please bear with me through this, since it's all for you!!

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Chris awoke with a start. His immediate reaction was to look to the side to see if Wyatt was there, but as with each and every night he checked, his brother's bed was gone, and in its place was a gaping hole, like something was missing. 

Well, something _was_ missing, Chris thought: his brother.

He looked down at the covers of his bed for a moment before rolling over and pulling them over his head. It had been just about a month since Wyatt had moved out, but it sometimes still felt like his brother was in the next bed over, rolling around in his sleep. Their room seemed so much emptier without all of Wyatt's things; seemed so much quieter without his snores; but worst of all, it just felt _awkward_ without him there. Chris and Wyatt had shared a room Chris' entire life. He wasn't sure how in the world he was supposed to feel about it, even now.

At first he had felt angry, like Wyatt was abandoning him, abandoning their_ family_.

_I want a chance to be out on my own, Chris,_ Wyatt would tell him in his defense. _I want to try and do things for myself, you know? I'm just an orb away, and you know you're always welcome._

Chris had only orbed over to Wyatt's place on one occasion, and that had been when a demon had attacked the house and they needed his help in vanquishing it. In a way, he felt guilty about that. And the first time that he had gone over to his brother's apartment on a personal call had been weird for him. He hid it well, thankfully, but going there had served as a solidification of the fact that Wyatt was gone, that he was living somewhere else. It was hard.

All of these thoughts swirled around in his head as he lay there under the covers, feeling as if he were in a heated cocoon. He wasn't sure why he felt like hiding was going to make it any better, because he knew it wasn't. He wasn't stupid. A little obstinate, maybe, but not stupid.

But for what seemed like the umpteenth time that month, Chris was having a hard time falling asleep, and he knew that it was because he didn't have his brother sleeping in the bed beside him.

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When Chris woke up the next morning his face was buried in the side of his pillow and he was lying on his stomach. There was a dull pain throbbing in the small of his back that made him realize how badly he had tensed up during the night. He slowly shifted around on his bed until he was lying on his back with his body twisted in his covers. He lay there for a few minutes before he actually moved again, and when he did it was only to kick the covers off of his bed and onto the hardwood floor beneath him.

Chris turned his head to look over at the spot where Wyatt's bed had once been not too long ago. He couldn't count how many times he had looked over there, whether it was in the morning when he woke up or at night when he went to bed…and that didn't include the numerous times that he did it in the middle of the night while tossing and turning.

His mom had told him that it was going to take some getting used to, having shared the story of when she first told his aunts to go live with their respective boyfriends of the time. Part of him wondered, though, if she could understand what _he_ was feeling. There clearly were a lot of things that he wouldn't be able to comprehend when it came to _her_ feelings, but that…well, that was sort of beside the point for him. Surely she understood where he was coming from with his sibling point of view, and even above that, on a magical level.

He and Wyatt may have not always gotten along, but his brother was an important person in his life. Even _if_ it wasn't to the same level as Wyatt was in their parents' lives. Wyatt was the only one who knew about Landon—was the only person that Chris could really _trust_ with that fact (even if he had stumbled upon it)—and that put him on a separate level than anyone else in the rest of his family. And Wyatt, true to his word, never treated him differently because of it. That didn't mean that he didn't pick on him because of it, but Chris couldn't expect him _not_ to. They were brothers, after all.

Still, there was something to be said about waking up and being able to throw his pillow at his brother to wake him up, or throwing his pants at him when Wyatt forgot that he wasn't wearing underwear. That kind of time was when Chris would have been happy to _not_ share a room with him. But there were plenty of others that he missed.

He knew he had to get up at some point. With his aunt Paige's birthday in less than a week and his mother's birthday just a few days after that, he had some shopping to do. Like with every year, they were going to celebrate his aunt's birthday at her house and then his mom's at the manor, so he was going to have to hide their presents at Landon's house. At least this year he didn't have to ask one of his friends to keep his gifts at _their_ house, like he usually did. He was hesitant to do that after one of them not too long ago had managed to break the glass punch bowl that he had bought for his mother. That damn store hadn't let him return it, either, even when it hadn't been his fault…

It being a Monday, when Chris went downstairs for breakfast after showering, he didn't expect to see anyone around. Mel had a part time job during the summer that kept her busy at all random times of the day, depending on her shift, and his mother would be at the restaurant, while his dad would be at Magic School, working on things around the campus, as he usually was. Chris himself had a part time job of his own working at his mother's restaurant as a waiter, and he only worked when she needed him or when he needed money. He wasn't scheduled to work until that Friday, the day before his aunt Paige's birthday. Having just worked the past three days straight with eight-hour shifts on each of them, he was glad to have the time off.

Once finished with breakfast, Chris called Landon up to make sure that he was still coming by to pick him up so that they could go shopping for his mom's and aunt's gifts. Landon almost always had Mondays off, and the two of them had sort of adopted it as their day together; it was the one day that they could always count on them both having it off.

Sometimes it was difficult for him to think that they had been together for about two months. But really, what was most difficult for him to believe was that he had managed to keep it a secret from his family for all of this time. It wasn't that he was ashamed of Landon; if anything, he should have been proud, because Landon had a good job, had his own place and was pretty mature. Overall, he was a good boyfriend.

That in itself was the problem, however: he was a _boyfriend_, not a_ girlfriend_. Chris wasn't really sure how the rest of his family was going to react to the fact that he was dating a guy and not a girl. Sure, when he was younger and in middle school, he had 'dated' girls. But looking back on that, it had really been nothing more than writing notes of 'Do you like me? Check yes or no!' and spending time together at lunch. He had never done anything like that with Landon, and likewise, Chris did things with him that he had never done with those girls. He couldn't even picture himself making out with anyone at that age, let alone on a couch or in a bedroom.

Things changed, though. There was no denying the fact that he liked Landon. Chris didn't think himself incapable of liking girls, but he had yet to meet one that fit exactly what it was he was looking for. Plus, being with a guy was easier, he thought; he knew how Landon generally thought and vice versa. He knew that he could expect Landon to express himself freely, just like he knew that he could. Things were comfortable and fun, and it was sort of like they were just really good friends. Except they were friends that got more physical than most did.

Chris snorted at that thought when grabbed his keys from the basket by the front door. He had never thought himself the type to do something right under his parents' noses, but it wasn't like it was something illegal or harmful. He was just dating someone. Things would come out in their own time.

_No pun intended_, he added as an afterthought.

As Landon only lived a little ways away, it didn't take long for him to show up in front of the manor. When he pulled up Chris headed down the stairs and slipped inside, giving the older one a kiss as a greeting.

"Hey, you," Landon said with a grin. "Ready to go get those gifts?"

"About as ready as I'll ever be," Chris said with a chuckle. "Aunt Paige is really hard to shop for. She's been collecting these little glass figurines lately, though. There's a good place in Bodega Bay my mom goes to go get things like that every now and then. But that's like, forty miles from here."

"We can go there if you want. Or there's that little collectors shop in the district that we could go to. I got my mom one of those crystal cats from there for Christmas last year. Pretty good prices…"

Chris snorted. "It's closer, too. That's probably better."

"Tell you what. We can go to Bodega Bay if you don't find anything you like at that store, all right?" Landon shifted the car into gear and then started to head out, eyes turning to the road.

"Nah, it's okay. There's plenty of places downtown…I may want to get my mom some cooking equipment instead. Aunt Paige, though…" God, Chris thought, why was it so hard to shop for her? He should have just asked Henry Jr. what he was getting her. "What is it with older women and getting figurines and collectibles?"

"Maybe it's a genetic thing."

"Well," Chris snorted, "it's _something_."

Landon and Chris talked back and forth and even bickered a bit on their way to the shopping district. It was nice to the younger one to know that the worst problem he was likely going to have that day was difficulty finding a parking spot. With a lack of demon attacks over the past week or so he had finally been able to relax. Contrary to popular belief among his family, Chris wasn't _always_ looking for demons to vanquish. Realizing how suppressed his real wants were had made him open himself up a little bit more.

The two walked somewhat close together while on the sidewalk, but neither Chris nor Landon made any move to hold one another's hands. Though they had no problem being physical with one another (that anti-inhibition spell had been good for _something_), hand-holding just didn't do much for them.

That didn't stop Chris from tugging on Landon's hand from time to time as they walked from store to store. Most of the places they wandered into didn't really have anything that he was looking for, but it was nice to just browse and see if something didn't catch his eye. They went inside a clothing store, a music store and a few other places, but nothing seemed especially unique. Chris hated buying generic gifts for his family because they meant much more to him than just a t-shirt or a bouquet of flowers. He knew Wyatt kept the pocket knife Chris had given him for that very reason, just like he knew that Mel would never get rid of her stuffed giraffe for just the same reason. They were thoughtful gifts, things he prided himself on.

By the time they got to the antique collectibles store, Landon was beginning to drag a little. In all honesty, it wasn't hard for Chris to understand why; they had been shopping for nearly two hours, and so far, nothing had tickled his fancy in quite the right way.

"Tell you what," Chris said as they stepped inside the store, "we'll go have some lunch after this place if I can't find anything. You've been a good sport."

"I'm gonna want more than lunch for this," Landon teased.

"Yeah, well, we'll see about that."

Chris gripped the other's shoulder and pushed at him with a grin on his face. Landon stumbled a little and nearly collided with one of the nearby displays of random items. There was a distinct scent of furniture polish and bronze in the air, both of which the younger one didn't much care for. He didn't like bronze things much period, but in an antique store, it was kind of hard to avoid them. They seemed to be everywhere—baby's old shoes, bowls, small baseball gloves…all sorts of things.

"This place seems more like the spot people come to throw their old junk away." The dark haired witch moved further into the quiet building, wandering over toward a collection of cat figurines and old McDonalds toys. "Don't think Aunt Paige wants something that some kid probably threw up on…"

Landon stepped up beside his boyfriend and picked up one of the old toys. It had been electronic at one point, but it had no battery life left, as was visible by the screws in the back that held the battery in. He shook it. "You sure? This looks pretty badass…she might love it. You never know."

Chris snorted, but more in amusement than anything. "God, no. But if you want it so bad, why don't _you_ get it?"

"I think I might just!"

That warranted a laugh, and Chris reached out, snatching the toy from Landon's hands to look over it. "It's like five bucks. You might as well, if you like it so much." A playful grin appeared on his face.

"Yeah, yeah. You go look at gift ideas. I'm gonna stay here and see if I can't find some more things from my childhood. Who knew twenty some odd year-old toys were considered antiques?"

Chris left Landon to look at the toys while he made his way over to the other side of the store, where a lot of pictures, furniture and a few decorative items were strewn about. He didn't have enough money for furniture—not that he would buy it, anyway—and the pictures all were of things he knew wouldn't fly so well as a gift. Who wanted a crying clown portrait?

It wasn't until he stepped in front of a glass case that something caught his eye. It was like a flash, and he heard something suddenly, too. For a moment he stood there, completely still, wondering what it had been. Chris knew better than to shrug off these random events because he knew everything happened for a reason. When nothing followed, he decided to look back into the glass display again, noticing an interesting old, dark leather glasses carrying case that his aunt Paige might have liked. Just as he raised his hand to catch someone's attention he heard something again, a voice, and it sounded agonized, yet irritated:

"Stupid witch!"

Chris' eyes darted around him as he searched for anything—or any_one_—that could have made the noise. But there was nothing…no one.

He blinked slowly, knitting his brow in confusion. What was going on?


	3. Power Swap

Author's Notes: Okay, so here's chapter three :D I'm uploading it tonight just to make sure that I don't forget. I apologize for being so lax...things have been so damn busy, ugh. But hopefully you enjoy it as much as the other chapters!

* * *

"Chris, where'd you go, babe?" 

The sound of Landon's voice snapped Chris back into focus, back into the reality of the situation he was in. This wasn't like when he went shopping with his family where he would be able to talk about what just happened. If he did, Landon probably would have thought him a lunatic. So, instead of worrying about it now, he pushed it to the back of his head (although with protest from his logical side) and tried to keep it away from the current moment.

Part of him wondered if he wasn't going to hear it again.

"I'm over here by the furniture," Chris called. A few moments later Landon appeared around the corner, the toy no longer in his hand. "You not gonna get the toy?"

"Eh," was all Landon said in response to the question. He came up beside Chris and casually slipped an arm around his waist. "Anything good over here?"

"I was looking at that eyeglasses case…think she'd like that? For her new glasses? She's been using that raggedy old case for like, a year. I don't know how it gets so beaten up, but."

"I'd get it for her." Landon pulled away from Chris and went on the other side of the display, reaching in to pull out the eyeglass case. He extended it to the other. "If she needs one and you like it, seems like a smart move."

Whether it really was a smart move, or simply because Chris wanted to get finished with his searching so that he could investigate the previous matter further—so much for sticking it in the back of his head, he thought—he nodded and headed up to the front to pay for the case. He stopped suddenly while walking along the way when something else caught his eye.

It was a simple little box, rectangular in shape and made with some kind of dark wood. Chris moved over to it and investigated it curiously. It looked an awful lot like a music box, or a jewelry box…and when he lifted the lid, he revealed a white, fuzzy inlay that was obviously designed for things like rings. There was even a little box for what he assumed were for necklaces or maybe even earrings. It even played a quiet little melody that brought a small smile to his lips. There was a familiarity about it that he couldn't quite put a finger on.

When he was younger, Chris remembered that on Melinda's thirteenth birthday, their mother had given her the old jewelry box that their great-grandmother had given to her for her own birthday many years ago. It had meant a lot to their mom and they could all see it when Mel smiled and hugged her for it. But ever since then, Chris knew that his mother had been using an old generic sort of jewelry box to keep her rings, necklaces and earrings in. This little box would be a perfect gift, he thought.

"Find something else?" he heard Landon call.

Chris looked over his shoulder. "Yeah…yeah, I did, actually." He shut the lid and picked up the box, the small smile still on his face. "Come on. Let's, uh…let's get going."

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Landon had been nice enough to keep both of the gifts at his apartment for safe-keeping, and after spending majority of the day together, they parted ways that evening, with Chris returning home, thoughts of what had happened earlier still on his mind. The only thing that he could think it to be was an astral echo of sorts. That, however, left much to be desired. If it _had_ been an astral echo, then he would have likely seen something, or someone…or he thought that he would. Astral echoes were usually very rare, because not many people had that kind of power. Not only that, but they usually happened much more powerfully. That was what he remembered reading in the _Book of Shadows_ in regards to them. He was probably over-thinking it, even though before, he had been thinking just the opposite.

He kicked off his shoes and put his jacket on the hook by the door, hearing first the sound of the television and then the sound of his dad laughing. His parents must have been watching TV in the parlor.

"Hey Mom, Dad," Chris said to them as he leaned against the archway.

"Well hey, you," Piper said. "You missed dinner. Everything's been put away."

"Sorry about that. I didn't plan on staying out so late." And although he honestly hadn't, time tended to go by quicker when he was outside the manor than when he was inside it. "Didn't miss it by much though, did I? It's only seven."

Leo gestured to the kitchen. "Not by much, nah. Your sister's in there doing dishes."

"Ah, okay. I'll go help her dry and put them away."

"Be sure to get enough," Piper called after him. "Because you know there won't be much garlic chicken left if your dad has anything to say about it…"

Snorting, Chris waved at them and pushed off the frame, going into the kitchen. Sure enough, there was Mel with her back turned to the entryway, hands in the sink. He could hear her muttering quietly to herself.

"That's the fourth time I've about cut myself on you, you damn knife. I'm going to throw you in the trash if I can ever _find_ you…"

Chris laughed. "Violence against silverware isn't the answer, Mel. Come on."

Startled, Piper's youngest jumped a little. She quickly turned to look. "Violence is _always_ the answer against silverware. Especially these damn knives." She returned her attention to the plate she was scrubbing with the brush. "I hate them."

Chris, who had grabbed the nearby towel to quicker dry the dishes, pulled out one of the glasses and began patting it down. He glanced over at his sister. "Yeah, well, next week I'm on dish duty, so you'll be fine."

"It was supposed to be your week this week anyways," Mel grumbled.

"No, it should have been _Wyatt's_ week," Chris corrected with mild irritation in his voice.

"Whatever," Mel said. "I just don't see why I have to do it two weeks in a row. It's not fair."

"It's dishes. At least you're not stuck sweeping and vacuuming. So stop complaining." It wasn't like he meant to be snappy, but Mel always complained about chores, and even though she had sort of lightened up on her complaining with demon fighting, there really weren't that many demons around to fight lately. It was only natural for her complaining to build up elsewhere, he thought. That didn't make it right.

"You know Mom only makes you do that because you're as meticulous about it as she is. She knows it'll get done the way she wants it to."

"Well, it _should_ get done by you, too. It's not that hard to sweep the floors and make sure there isn't a bunch of hair and dust everywhere. Jeez."

"Whatever," Mel finally said in a finalizing tone. She stared up at her darker haired brother. "What did you get aunt Paige for her birthday? I ended up getting her the first three books of that series she's been talking about. You know, the murder mystery one set in New York."

Chris furrowed his brow. Something like jealousy bubbled up inside of him, although he knew it had absolutely no foundation whatsoever. "I got her a new eyeglasses case," he finally said. "I figured she could use a new one."

"Didn't Uncle Henry buy her the one she uses now?"

"Don't think so."

"Well, I guess it's a good present. She'll _probably_ like it." Mel put the two plates she had just cleaned in the other sink for Chris to dry. "I got Mom this _really_ pretty portrait for her birthday this year. It's made from this like…black background? And they shave it off to reveal the white stuff beneath it and everything, and there's colors, and it's a picture of this really gorgeous kitchen. I think she's really gonna like it. It cost pretty much half my check but I think it was totally worth it."

That jealous feeling inside of him bubbled even more. Mel was trying to get some kind of rise out of him, he could have almost sworn it, because she was mentioning all the right things to push his buttons. Ever since they had been little, Chris and Mel had fought to get their mom the best gift for her birthday, and even though on a logical level they both knew that their mother didn't love one gift over another, they still fought about it.

In fact, they had been fighting about a lot of things lately. The subject of conversation moved from gifts to a variety of other things about which the two continued to bicker and nit pick at. In the living room, Leo and Piper could faintly hear them over the sounds of the television.

"Lower volume, TV," Leo said quietly, and the television complied.

"They're bickering worse and worse each day," Piper said with a mild look of exasperation on her face. She rubbed her eyes. "I know they've been arguing more since Wyatt left, but I didn't think it would get this bad. It hasn't been like this since the infamous squirt-ketchup-on-the-shirt incident back on Chris' twelfth birthday party. At this rate they'll probably stop talking to each other…"

"Their personalities clash," Leo explained with a faint shrug. "Chris is a lot like you, and Mel is a lot like Phoebe and Paige mixed together. You remember how irritated you used to get with the two of them from time to time. Chris just…well, he doesn't deal well with it."

"Yeah, but they're bickering over stupid things, Leo." Piper looked at her husband and furrowed her brow in the way that Chris had learned how so many years ago. "I've been thinking of ways to fix it."

An amused smirk appeared on Leo's face. "What, bringing Wyatt back in to play mediator from time to time?"

Piper snorted. "_No_. As much as I'd love to have him back here, I don't think he'll come back for more than a few days, if that. I was thinking…more along the lines of a way to get them to realize how important one another is to…well, one another."

"Just because a demon hasn't attacked lately, Mel, doesn't mean that they've all gone away forever!" Chris shouted suddenly. The shout caused both Leo and Piper to turn their heads toward the kitchen.

"Well, forgive me for thinking we had a break!"

"What…if…I decided to swap their powers?" Piper mused aloud over Chris and Mel's arguing.

"I think it'd be a pretty dangerous move," Leo said. "What if a demon or warlock attacks?"

"I was thinking of having Wyatt keep watch over them just in case. So they wouldn't be completely without control. And you know that Chris would still be able to orb…it would only switch their witch powers."

Leo raised an eyebrow. "So you're going to modify the power switching spell just to make them learn to get along magically? How's that going to help them—"

"—You should know by now, Leo, that I know what I'm doing." Piper smirked, herself, and leaned in to give her husband a kiss. "I'm gonna go call Wyatt."

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"Wait. You want to do _what_?" Wyatt laughed disbelievingly. "Mom, you…you lost me."

"I want to switch their powers." Piper folded her arms over her chest, slowly pacing back and forth between the couch and coffee table of Wyatt's living room. She dug her toes into the carpet. "They've been arguing pretty bad lately and I think it would do them some good to learn how important they are to one another."

The tall blond, who was sitting on the couch, sipped at the soda in his hands. "I don't see how switching their powers is going to do that."

"It's pretty simple. Since our family's powers are tied to our emotions, they'll have to learn how to deal with the way one another's powers are activated. I'm hoping that understanding that will help them to understand why they each work the way they do. If it doesn't, I'm at a loss."

Piper unfolded her arms and reached up to brush some of her graying hair behind her ears. "I want you to watch over them while it's happening, though. Your dad's going to spend more time at Magic School because he's helping some of the other teachers with their curriculums for the upcoming school year, and I'm gonna spend some time at the restaurant, just so that they can get everything figured out. I figure they'll catch onto the idea pretty quick…"

Wyatt snorted. "God, Mom, you're devious. Remind me to never make you angry with me." There was a grin on his face.

Piper wore a small smirk. "So, you'll help?"

"If it'll get Mel and Chris to get along like they did back around Chris' birthday, then I'll be more than happy to. I may not be at the house now—"

"—Don't remind me—"

"—but I'll be happy to help. I don't work tonight—wait." Wyatt blinked. "Did you want to do it right away?"

"I was hoping," Piper explained. "They argued about nothing last night, so I think they're almost arguing just for the sake of arguing. And none of us really need that. They're home right now. I…hmmm…"

"Want me to orb us back?" Wyatt asked.

"Maybe just to the attic. But you'll have to leave afterward for a minute so that the spell doesn't affect you, too."

Wyatt nodded to that, pulling himself up and gripping his mother's shoulder so that he could orb them back to the manor, into the attic. Thankfully neither Chris nor Mel was up there, which left Piper with a moment to think. Once her eldest son orbed back out she headed over to the _Book of Shadows_, opening it up to flip through its pages.

"Now, how did that spell go again…"

With the spell now staring her back in the face, Piper nodded her head a little. Now all she needed to was modify it so that the spell would function in just the right way. She tapped her chin thoughtfully, and then began to recite:

"_What belongs to one now belongs to the other, let my youngest children's witchly powers cross over. Until it is that their lesson is learned, this spell cannot be overturned."_

Having realized that she had pretty much just used the idea of the spell and come up with one of her own, Piper snorted. Still, she could feel a magical shift in the house. She didn't doubt that the spell would work the way she wanted it to; decades of working with spells gave her that certainty. Still, she wondered if things would work out the way that she wanted…

Just as she was about to call Wyatt back, Piper heard a sudden crash that made her heart jump.

She also heard the sudden shriek of her daughter: "What the _hell_!?"

-----------------------------------

Chris had been in the parlor when he heard the sudden destruction in the kitchen. Having just come from there not too long ago, he wasn't sure what in the world had happened, but his first thought was very obvious: demons.

Stumbling up and out of his chair, he bounded through the sitting room and dining room into the kitchen, only to stop in his tracks at the sight before him. Mel was crouched down beside the island in the kitchen, looking positively spooked, while the dining table in the kitchen was in shambles; the nearby window was blown out and glass was everywhere. It looked like one of the chairs had broken through it, but he couldn't be sure, because he couldn't see it.

"Mel, what the hell _happened_ in here?"

Mel shot up suddenly when at the sound of Chris' voice. "I don't know!" she exclaimed. "I was just—I went to freeze the gallon of milk when I knocked it off the island, but…" She pointed to the milk that was still pouring out over the floor. "I would try to freeze it again but oh my God, I don't want another repeat of what just happened."

"Don't blame you. I have no idea what happened to you...was it your—" Chris said.

"—_I've_ got an idea about what happened."

Chris stopped and looked over his shoulder. Their mother was standing in the doorway behind him, arms folded over her chest and a look on her face that seemed almost mischievous. He didn't know what to think of it, because that look was never followed by anything good. If anything, it meant that his mother was involved. Oddly enough, he didn't doubt it.

"What did you do?" he asked her.

"I took matters into my own hands." Piper cleared her throat. "I got tired of you two arguing all the time, and I figured that the best way for you to get along better would be to have to rely on each other. Since you seem so adamantly independent and all of that."

It dawned on Mel before it dawned on Chris, and her disapproval was obvious in the way that she glared and stomped her foot on the ground. Unfortunately that caused her newfound telekinetic powers to activate, because right when she did it, the nearby decimated dining table started flying all over the place. But when Chris threw up his hands to deflect, what he normally would have done to prevent himself from getting hit from the pieces, the jagged edged pieces of wood froze in place.

Mel almost squealed. "That's _my _power!"

"I don't want it!" Chris said suddenly, defensively. He spun around to look at Piper. "Mom, switch them _back_!"

"No," Piper said. Then she shrugged. "Actually, well, not so much no as…I can't."

Chris didn't fail to notice that the smirk that was still somewhat on her face. "What do you mean, you can't?" he asked incredulously.

"The way I worded the spell made it so that it's irreversible until you two have learned your lesson. So if you want to get your powers back, then you're gonna want to learn it quickly." Piper nodded firmly then.

"This is—this is _insane_! You can't do this! We need our powers to fight demons!"

"You're not the only ones in this house who can fight demons, Chris." Piper pointed at him briefly, before looking to Melinda. "We'll clean this up in just a bit. But for now, duck."

Chris was confused. "Wha—"

Out of nowhere, the freeze effect on the pieces of the table undid itself. Chris ducked like his mother suggested but when he looked up he noticed that they were frozen again.

"It's going to take you both a little while to get used to having each other's powers." Piper's hands were out, a clear indication that she had refrozen the debris. "I suggest you start teaching each other as soon as possible."

With the small smirk still playing on her lips, Piper turned around, despite the sudden outbursts of "_Mom!_"


	4. A Tender Moment

Author's Notes: Here's chapter four. :D Hope you all enjoy it!

* * *

"Okay. Okay, okay, okay. Okay." Chris rubbed his face with his hands. "Look. You've_got_ to be careful. Any sudden jerking movements of your hand if you're not focusing will cause a repeat of what just happened." Here he shot a look toward the destruction of the table nearby.

"Yeah, well, just be glad you didn't jerk your hands instead of throwing them up. You would have just caused _more_ explosions, because that's how I make things blow up."

This was going to take a lot of getting used to, Chris thought as he sighed. There was more to activating powers than the way they moved their hands. His trigger, like his late aunt Prue's, was usually anger, exasperation or frustration. He could only guess that Mel's was panic or surprise, at least for her ability to freeze, just like their mother.

"I need to check something out," he announced suddenly. Focusing, Chris soon felt himself orbing, and moved across the kitchen by where the fridge was. It wasn't very far, but all he had wanted to do was check and see that he still had his whitelighter abilities. Clearly, he did. This was a relief. "Thank God."

"The spell she cast must have only switched our witch powers," Mel stated. Then she groaned. "We have to clean up this mess."

They _did_ still have to clean up the mess. It was going to take ages to do it, and normally he would have done it the mortal way, but here…here he was frustrated and uncomfortable. He had a volatile power inside of him that he didn't understand, and he was _angry_ about it—angry at his mother for doing this to him, at her thinking this would work, and above all, at the fact that she was doing this so close to several important times in their future. Who knew how long it would take to fix this?

Focusing for a moment, Chris then said, "_What once was destroyed here shall now be…fixèd, return this kitchen to how it the day before existed._"

Having chosen his words carefully, Chris watched as time seemed to almost reverse. The chair that had flown through the window floated back through and returned to its proper place, as well as the table and the other, once-broken chairs. The milk even retreated back into its container and disappeared into the fridge. But unfortunately, so did Melinda's bowl of cereal she had poured, the bowl, spoon and cereal all returning to where they had been located the day previous.

"Fixèd?" Mel asked, repeating Chris' pronunciation on it once everything had gone back to normal. If it could have been considered that.

"Can you come up with anything better?" he about snapped. "It was the only way to make it rhyme with existed. It fixed the kitchen, though, didn't it?"

"What about personal gain?"

"God, it—" No, Chris told himself, there was no use getting angry. Mel made a valid point. That didn't mean that he liked it, though. "We'll deal with that later. We're gonna have to. Right now, we have to worry about fixing this stupid issue and getting our powers back to the way they were before. It's a more pressing issue."

As their mother had said, the spell wouldn't reverse itself until they had managed to fix the issue between the two of them. In all honesty Chris was almost tempted to say 'fuck it' to the entire situation and just stick with it. But that wasn't fair. That was his anger talking, not his rational, logical half.

Mel folded her arms over her chest. "Sounds like you're trying to justify it more to yourself than to me, but okay. So how are we gonna go about fixing this? We're siblings. We're supposed to fight."

"Don't you remember what happened with Lilandra, Mel?" Chris asked. "She tried to break us up as siblings so that we would lose our powers and she could steal the _Book of Shadows_. This is probably Mom's way of trying to get us to get along better."

"Then why isn't Wyatt involved?"

That was a good question. Pausing, he looked down at the floor, trying to mull it over in his head. Why _wasn't_ Wyatt involved?

Then he remembered what their mother had said.

"This is about the two of us," Chris explained. "I think Mom wants us to be like how we were right after we vanquished that sorry demon's ass."

"Not much has really changed," Mel said, shrugging her shoulders. "I mean, we're all still fighting demons like we usually are. Not so much lately but she can't be mad at us for that."

"No, but…" He raised his eyebrows, something hitting him. "Ah…"

Now it was starting to make sense. Why Chris hadn't seen it before, he wasn't too sure. Maybe because he had been distracted with buying a good gift and one-upping his sister, like he did every year at this time. "Mom's birthday's coming up. You and I have been arguing…she…probably wanted things to be good between us so that she could have a good birthday."

Mel looked cross. "What? We _never_ fight on Mom's birthday. That's stupid. Why would she do that?"

"Oh, _really_." Chris gave his sister a flat sort of stare.

"What?" she asked again.

Chris continued to stare.

"_What_?"

"You're delusional."

"Oh, whatever," Mel muttered. She waved her hand dismissively. "Why aren't we getting our powers back? We found out what the problem was."

"Because we haven't_fixed_ it yet," Chris said. "If it were as easy as that, Mom wouldn't have cast the spell in the first place."

There was irritation written all over his sister's face. "We don't have time to try and _fix_ this. What happens if a demon attacks?"

"Then I guess we have to learn how to use each other's powers so that we don't end up_dying_. But at least I can still orb. We'd be pretty much screwed if I couldn't do that."

Right about the time Chris finished speaking, a familiar collection of white-blue orbs entered from the ceiling above them, materializing into Wyatt. There was a knowing sort of grin—however small it was—on his face.

"Hey guys," he said.

That look gave him away pretty badly. Chris didn't waste any time in asking, "Are you in on this?"

Wyatt blinked. "What?"

Wyatt had never been good at hiding anything, at least from Chris. He could read his brother like an open book most of the time. There was something inside the blond's head, and he was going to figure out what it was.

"This," Chris said, grabbing an orange from the nearby fruit bowl and throwing it in the air. He mimicked the movement from before but it didn't cause the orange to freeze. Instead, the orange fell to the ground with a quiet thud.

Piper's eldest slowly raised an eyebrow before glancing down at the orange on the floor. "Uh. Am I in on your apparent hatred of oranges?"

"No, damn it," Chris muttered. "Why didn't it freeze?"

"Because you're angry, Chris," Mel said. "Last time, the stuff was about to fly at you and hit you, so you panicked. I told you, it's like Mom's powers. I have the same triggers."

"So wait, did Mom switch your powers?" Wyatt asked curiously.

"Yes," Chris said through slightly gritted teeth. "And I dunno, I just find it a little convenient that you happened to pop in here right after it happened."

Suddenly, Mel exclaimed, "Crap!"

"What?" Chris asked.

"I forgot that I have to work tonight…I'm supposed to be closing the store." She looked worried, and it could be heard in her voice. "I don't—"

"—You're not going to work tonight," Chris told his sister. "You're too volatile. We're _both_ too volatile."

"Chris is right, Mel," Wyatt said. "You might wanna call in and let them know now. When were you supposed to go in?"

"In a couple of hours," Mel said. She ran a hand down her face. "I'm gonna go call in. I'll be right back."

Once Mel had left and Chris was left alone with Wyatt, the darker haired one cleared his throat, getting a look on his face quite similar to their mother when she was trying to figure something out. "All right. I know that you have something to do with this."

Wyatt snorted. "Paranoid much?"

"Hiding something much?"

There was a pause. Afterward, Wyatt finally wrinkled up his nose and looked away.

"Thought so."

"…Don't tell her I told you," Wyatt said. "Not that I did, but you know."

"No, no, whatever."

Wyatt folded his arms over his chest. "You…probably should have expected it, at least from what she told me. Seems like it's every year all over again, only this time, Mom got kind of tired of it and decided to do something about it."

"I guess," Chris grumbled. "I tried telling Mel that but she doesn't really seem to get it. I dunno how to get it through her head."

"Mom wouldn't have done it if you _both_ didn't have something to learn," Wyatt stated. "So maybe it isn't just trying to get through to her."

An irritated look took over Chris' face. "Thanks, Wyatt."

"I'm serious, Chris."

Before he was able to stop himself from saying it, Chris retorted with, "Yeah, well, you lost the right to be judgmental of us when you left the house."

An awkward silence followed during which Wyatt stared incredulously at his brother, while the younger one looked away. Chris hadn't meant to say that, but his real feelings had surfaced up and had burst before he had even realized it.

"Right," Wyatt said, sounding anything but pleased. "I thought you didn't have a problem with me moving out?"

"I don't," Chris replied flatly. "I just—"

"—Then what the hell did that mean?" Wyatt raised his voice, cutting his brother off.

In exasperation Chris said, "It just means that I miss you, you idiot. Is that so hard to grasp?"

Now appearing confused, Wyatt asked, "What?"

"I miss you," Chris repeated. "I don't—it just—" He sighed, reaching up to grip his own shoulder. "I was mad at first. I hated the fact that you'd moved out. But I got over it, because you didn't abandon us. And…" he sighed, "I think part of the reason why Mel and I have been griping at each other a lot lately is because you're not here to alleviate some of it."

The blond laughed. "So you mean to tell me that you're mad at me because I moved out, and because you can't gripe at me?"

Chris snorted. "When you put it that way, it sounds really stupid. No, I just miss…having you around, period. I like Mel, but she's three years younger than I am and she's…a completely different person. You and I, we may fight sometimes, but…" He waved his hand in a semi circle.

Wyatt walked toward the fruit bowl and grabbed himself an apple. He grinned some. "This isn't just because you don't have anyone to gush about Landon to, is it?"

"God, Wyatt, you—" Somewhat flustered, the younger one shook his head and waved his hands. "No. It doesn't have anything to do with that."

"Don't lie, Chris."

A serious look appeared on Chris' face. "That's not funny."

"Oh, whatever. You're no fun." Wyatt took a bite from his apple, setting it on the counter. He stepped toward his brother and clasped his shoulder. "Listen. I already told you. You're welcome to come over whenever you want. Well, so long as you don't nag at me for leaving my underwear all over the place like you used to in our room."

"I only did that because it was _sick_—"

Chris stopped speaking at the abrupt and angry steps of his sister who was stomping into the kitchen.

"They won't let me call in!" she announced angrily.

Both Chris and Wyatt looked at one another, then their sister.

"What do you mean?" Chris asked.

"Exactly what I said! They're not letting me call in. They told me that the other person who was supposed to work already did, and so I have to come in."

"You _can't_, though," Wyatt said.

"Well no duh, Wyatt! But what am I supposed to tell them? That I switched magical powers with my brother and I could possibly cause the biggest shampoo and shower gel flood that the mall has ever seen?"

"I'd say have Mom call in for you, but this might be what she's trying to get us to do. Maybe it's like…walking a mile in one another's shoes?" Chris mused aloud. "Just try not to trigger my powers, and you'll be fine."

"This isn't fair," Mel muttered. "You get to stay home and I get stuck dealing with this crap. Ugh."

"Well, who knows?" Wyatt took another bite of his apple. "Maybe you two will figure it all out before you have to go in. Be optimistic."

Mel shot a look at her eldest brother that even Chris felt. The middle child snorted quietly and whistled in a way that sounded like a chilling whisk of wind.

-----------------------------------

It was hot. There was dirt everywhere, and in the distance, vast expanses of dust with orange and red flames danced on the horizon. The sound of thunder crashed and boomed, sending resounding waves through the rocky, mountainous region.

Standing on one of those little hills was a resilient woman, hands clutching onto the surface of the rocks to keep herself from falling onto the ground. She had to keep on the move, had to keep going, because otherwise, she was going to be killed…and she couldn't—no, _wouldn't_—allow that to happen. Her long black hair was scraggly, frizzed and singed at the ends, and her skin was as pale as the white flames mixed in with the orange and red off in the distance.

Suddenly, the abysmally lava-like sky above her opened up, and what looked like a man screaming in agony started falling toward the ground. But as if something blew him up he exploded into thousands of pieces, the dust of his corpse showering to the ground.

Lilandra watched as the familiar sparkling orbs of light began floating down to the ground.

She waited for it…

From the ground below shot a rapidly moving, worm-like object. Though thin, it stretched high into the sky and engulfed the sparkling light, only to retreat quickly into the ground as if it had never even erupted in the first place.

No matter how many times she had seen that happen, it still sent a chill up her spine that paralyzed her momentarily. Thankfully, with each and every consequent time, it was less and less. After a moment's pause she was moving again, cursing herself for not having been closer. Whatever that creature was that was taking the powers, it had taken too many of them recently. All she needed was one that would get her out of here. That one power…and she would be able to get out of this hellhole.

It was through some stroke of luck that she had even managed not to be completely obliterated in the first place. Upon her being vanquished, there was another demon that had suffered the same fate. And from what she knew about the creature in the sand, it went after the more powerful beings first. Even though she had been initially jealous of the demon that had suffered a cruel and painful fate, their death had allowed her to escape with her own life. Her powers, however, had separated from her the moment she entered the horrible place. All those powers she had worked so hard to collect were gone.

For a long while, Lilandra clung to her life by hiding in the rocks and running from the creature. Obviously hell-bent on getting a hold of her, the creature relentlessly tortured her and chased her, but she refused to give in. It was only through the appearance of demons and warlocks from above that she was usually able to escape it when it was actively chasing after her.

But after a few days, or perhaps even a week—telling time was difficult, as there were no days or nights, only one long period of torment—she realized that, if she acted quickly enough, she would be able to gather the powers of the vanquished and eaten. She had failed quite miserably at first, however after several tries, she had managed to finally procure a few different, useful powers.

The power of astral echoes had helped her to locate her prey above ground, helped her to keep her focus even when some days she felt as if she might just go crazy. The creature's constant onslaught had driven her nearly over the edge, and that ability had helped her to retain her willpower, even in the harshest of times.

The thought of sweet revenge against Piper's children was enough to keep her going most of the time, as well…

All she needed now was the ability to shimmer or blink out, and everything would work out. She couldn't settle for astral projection, not with the creature attacking each and every time she used her powers…it would leave her vulnerable and in too much danger.

Once she was sure that there was going to be some peace and quiet (if such a thing even existed where she was), Lilandra slipped inside a hollowed out hole in the large rock cliff that she had just finished crossing. Here, she would wait. Here, she would think more on her plan, and think of where the best place to attack would be…


	5. Returning to Normal

Author's Notes: God, sorry this took so long. I had midterms and papers and homework out the ass, along with work, so I kind of forgot about it. Ugh. But! Chapter five. Yay!

* * *

"Lights off…trash out…product straightened up…"

Mel ran over her mental checklist to make sure that each and every thing that she usually did when she closed down the store had been done. Once she was sure, the young witch shut the door to the office and slipped out the back door, locking that behind her. They weren't allowed to exit the store from the front due to the people who nightly cleaned the floors. She had to take the back way, going through where shipments to stores were usually received and sent. It wasn't quite as safe as she would have liked, but there wasn't really much that could be done about it. And to date nothing bad had taken place…though she was reluctant to voice that. No sense in jinxing herself.

Glancing down at her watch once she stepped outside she realized that she only had about five minutes to get to the bus stop before she missed it. It had taken longer to close that night because of a sudden rush of people, and with only one person there, there had been more for her to do. She cursed inwardly and looked down at her shoes. Why hadn't she worn flats?

She started walking as quickly as possible without quite running, just so that she could get out of the alleyway and down the street to the bus stop. She was just about to step out onto the sidewalk when she heard something behind her, which caused her to stop dead in her tracks and look over her shoulder. But she saw nothing. She turned around again and put her foot down to start walking again, only to hear the sound once more. And this time, it sounded clearer. She could pick out that it was a voice…and it was a weird one.

"God damn it," Mel muttered, turning around and heading back into the alleyway. Of course this would happen, she thought. Just when everything was going fine, something had to come and screw with her…

When she investigated her surroundings, she noticed that there wasn't anyone else there with her. There was a trash bin not too far away with a large chunk of a mirror in it, and a chain link fence that blocked off a small area with a circuit box that presumably controlled the lights overhead.

Maybe her head was just playing tricks on her. She and Chris had just been arguing about demons not but the night before, and that usually put her in a mood. This would fit really well into that, she thought. She stayed in place for a few moments to make sure nothing was going to happen, but out of the corner of her eye she saw something move. She darted her focus toward the mirror in the trash bin and saw something that made her heart sink into her stomach. It couldn't have been…

She was just imagining things, she told herself. Latent fear bubbling up to the surface because of the darkness…

Not that she had much time to think about it. Not too far away by the chain link fence, a demon shimmered in, looking around.

"Lil—"

Before he could finish speaking Mel stuck her hands out to freeze him, only to find that instead, she accidentally caused a nearby pipe lying on the ground to fly at him and smack him upside the head. The demon yelled out in pain and fell to the ground.

"Wyatt! Chris!" Mel shouted. She wasn't going to be able to vanquish this demon on her own…not without her own powers.

Like on command, a collection of white-blue orbs descended from the sky and materialized into her two older brothers.

"Mel, what's—"

"Get him!" she nearly shrieked, pointing to the demon that was recovering from the blow.

Without much thought to it, Chris threw his hand out, intending to throw the demon to the side. Instead he caused the demon's right arm to explode, which caused the newly amputated monster to yell in rage.

"Damn it!" he cursed.

Mel didn't even attempt to try and freeze the demon again. Instead she ran over behind the trash bin and hid, leaving Wyatt and Chris against the foe. Although Wyatt raised his hands in preparation to vanquish the demon his younger brother gripped his arm.

"No! Let me do this. I'm gonna figure this damn thing out sooner or later."

"Her trigger's panic, right?" Wyatt said. In a hushed voice, he said, "_I'm_ gonna tell Mom about Landon."

Something akin to a frenzied panic suddenly engulfed Chris, who stuck his hands out at the demon and promptly froze him in place.

"_Not_ funny," Chris said seriously, still holding his hands out.

Wyatt looked almost a little smug. "Well, it worked, didn't it?"

For a moment the two of them just stared each other down, but they were broken up by Mel, who stepped up behind them and peeked between them at the frozen demon.

"It worked?"

Chris furrowed his brow. "You sound surprised."

"All that matters is that the demon's frozen," Wyatt said firmly. He looked at his siblings. "I was gonna kill it, but maybe it's best if the two of_you_ do it. You know, that lesson and everything."

"Funny."

"I thought so."

All three of them stepped back and looked at the demon in question. Mel and Chris stared at each other afterward, as if to try and figure out what they were going to do.

"Why don't you two have some fun with it?" Wyatt asked suddenly. "Mel, you throw him, Chris…freeze him again. Then blow him up. Practice your powers."

"That sounds horrible, Wyatt," Chris said. "Don't ever mix fun with the idea of demon fighting again."

But neither Mel nor Chris could deny that it wasn't a smart idea. If they needed to learn each other's powers better, this was by far the best way to do it. The demon was still frozen in place, and so Mel focused on him, waving her hand in front of her. It didn't work at first, but upon her second try the demon went flying through the air. Chris managed to freeze it on his first try, and without focusing on what Wyatt had said before.

Now there was a one-armed demon frozen in the air, which shouldn't have been as amusing as it was. He was completely vulnerable to an attack, though, and Chris was more than capable of channeling frustration to blow the demon up. But to his surprise he managed to do it with just the right motion of his hands. The remnants of the demon scattered and disintegrated in the air, leaving the three of them alone once again.

Out of the blue, Wyatt began to slowly clap. Both Chris and Mel looked at him with somewhat flat expressions on their face.

"What?" he asked. "You guys did well. I thought you'd appreciate a round of applause."

"Funny," the younger two said in unison. They then looked at each other.

Mel shook her head. "I never…really realized how much we took each other's powers for granted. They're really…well. They're both good to have." There was slight hesitation in her voice, but a lack of insincerity that made it easier to believe what she was saying. "Telekinesis isn't so bad. That was pretty fun."

"Yeah," Chris said.

It was right about then that it hit him, what it was that his mother had attempted to accomplish with this whole thing. He may have known before, mentally, but now he could actually _feel_ it. That had to be the difference that would cause a chance.

"And you know, it's not about whose power is better…_or_ about which one of us is better…" Then, after a pause, "_Or_ which one of us is going to have the best gift." He looked at Mel, who surprisingly didn't bite back at that. "We don't have to fight about this stuff, because it's moot."

He suddenly felt lightheaded. He wasn't sure why, at least until he saw the floating orbs of white light above his and his sister's heads. The two collections of orbs switched places and he watched as one set descended into his sister's body before disappearing completely. He felt…oddly whole afterward.

"Did we..?" Mel blinked, glancing down at herself.

"I, uh…think we did."

She gestured with her hand. "Well, test it out."

Chris nodded. Glancing around him, he then waved his hand and watched as the trash bin's lid shut as if on its own accord. "Thank _God_," he said.

"What a corny lesson," Mel chuckled dryly. "We both bring the same thing to the table, blah, blah, blah. Leave it to Mom to do something like this."

"Well. The good news is that you fixed things," Wyatt interjected. "Should make Mom happy for her birthday, right?"

"Right," Chris said, followed shortly by his sister saying the same.

"And I didn't even have to vanquish the demon," Piper's eldest added, grinning some.


	6. She Rises Again

Author's Notes: Hey all! This...is unfortunately the last chapter of the story. I told myself I'd try and write more when I got the chance, but I've just been so exhausted lately with school, work, and all the social crap that's slipped into my life. I don't have much time to write anymore, and even though I really wanna write more to this story, I don't have the muse. I hope she comes back soon! And if not, well...at least I managed to get it to a point that I feel comfortable closing it.

Thank you all for reading and reviewing!!

* * *

With the demon now vanquished, Wyatt returned back to his place while Chris orbed himself and Mel back to the manor. It felt nice to have his power back, especially since it got rid of that strange sensation inside of him…that one that felt like he had something that didn't belong to him. They weren't meant to have each other's powers, and it had been a brave move on their mother's part to do what she had done. But she wasn't one of the most powerful witches in history for nothing, he thought.

Upon returning back home, Chris and Mel went opposite ways—him heading to his room and his sister heading to hers. It wasn't terribly late, only about nine-thirty, and he had been reading a book that he had been trying to finish for months. He was bound and determined to finish it before classes started up again, because it wasn't that big of a book, and if he couldn't finish it, then how the hell was he going to deal with school again?

Thinking about that made him recall the strange astral echo or whatever it had been back at the antique collectibles store. Surprisingly, he had been able to forget it; that wasn't usually the type of thing that he would forget. But then, it had only been about a day, so it wasn't as if a whole lot of time had passed. It certainly felt as if more had, but that seemed to be the case lately…

He would deal with that in the morning, he told himself. For now, he was going to read. Well, no, he thought, _first_ he was going to brush his teeth and get ready for bed, and _then_ he was going to read his book. Chris got up from his bed and headed toward the bathroom, only to stop right in front of his door when he felt it being pushed open. He stepped back and noticed that it was Melinda.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey." Melinda looked a little preoccupied. "Can we talk?"

Chris blinked. As he moved back toward his bed he asked, "…Sure. What's wrong?"

"Well, something else happened in the alley. I wasn't—I wasn't really sure what it was, and then the demon attacked, so I got distracted."

"What was it?"

"I had just walked out into the alley when I heard this…really strange voice." Mel's face contorted thoughtfully as she recalled it. "It sounded familiar, but I couldn't place a finger on it. And then, I saw something."

"Wait," Chris said suddenly. "You heard a voice?"

"Yeah. But anyway, I—"

"What did—"

"Chris, let me finish!" Mel looked irritated.

"Sorry."

"Okay, _so_. As I was saying, I looked over at the trash bin at the large, broken mirror in there, and I saw something. But see, what I saw was really freaking creepy."

"What was it?" he asked.

"It was Lilandra," Mel said uncomfortably. She rubbed her upper arms with her hands, and she moved to sit in Chris' desk chair.

"Are you _sure_ it was her?" Chris furrowed his brow. "We vanquished her…"

"I'm positive it was her. I remember what she looks like. Part of me thinks I was just seeing things, but, I mean, I heard that voice, too, and Mom's always telling us to believe what we see and hear."

"Yeah, well, you're not the only one."

"Not the only one what?"

Chris sighed. "Who heard a voice." He saw Mel's face fall, and he continued, "I was shopping for Mom and Aunt Paige's gifts when I heard it. And it said, 'stupid witch', I think, so…I'd be willing to bet a lot on the fact that we're hearing the same thing."

"Do you think Wyatt has?" Mel asked curiously.

"He probably would have told us if he did," Chris said. "My guess is that there's something going on and it's hitting us one by one. I'm just…not sure what to think of it. We should probably talk to Mom or Aunt Phoebe or Aunt Paige. They would know what's going on. I think it's an astral echo, but."

"Those are really rare, though."

"Still." Chris shifted on his bed and reached down to scratch the top of his foot.

"Why don't we talk to Wyatt first?" Mel suggested.

"Why?"

"I dunno." She shrugged. "Maybe it'll hit him sometime soon. Or maybe it already has, and he just hasn't told us. I don't know. Wyatt doesn't always tell us when things happen to him because he always tries to handle it himself, first. Sometimes like _you_ do."

"Ha, ha," Chris said. "I stopped doing that a long time ago. There's too much at risk nowadays. And if she really is back…" he trailed off.

Melinda sighed.

-----------------------------------

"Damn it!"

Lilandra dove into the cave once again, narrowly avoiding the creature's grasp. She heard a whiplash just outside the rock walls and looked over her shoulder to see if it entered the cave, too. It hadn't, and it looked like it was retreating. She had been so close…so _close_ to getting that demon's power. Close enough that she had almost been able to feel it. But that creature…

She didn't fail to catch the fact that majority of the vanquished demons were being grabbed before they even touched the ground. The creature was getting smarter, if that was at all possible. It may very well have picked up on her plans. She knew that she wasn't the first demon to attempt this, and she also knew that it was practically impossible. Still, revenge was making her cling to life. She was going to do this, even if it took eternity. There was all the time in the world.

After a moment of recuperation Lilandra stepped back out into the demonic wasteland, brushing her frizzed black hair back over her thin shoulders. All she had to do was keep her eyes open for another demon in the sky…that was all it was going to take…

It seemed to take ages for her wish to come true, but it finally had. It went by in a near flash, but the sky opened up in two areas, and two individuals came flying down, surprisingly far apart. And thankfully, one not too far from her. Lilandra broke out in a dash despite her fatigue and stuck her hand out, making a pulling motion. She had stolen the power of telekinesis from one of the demons who had fallen before, and in using it, she was able to pull the individual in question even closer to her.

She hit the ground with a thud. Lilandra wasted little time in forming a fireball in her hand and shoving it right into the demon's stomach. There was a cry of anguish as her body disintegrated from the flames, and all that remained were her powers, which Lilandra quickly absorbed. Her strength and energy was renewed; there was something different about these powers…she could feel it. And…could it be?

The warlock closed her eyes and focused on the cave. Shortly thereafter she felt her body dematerializing, and when she opened her eyes once more, she found that she was no longer staring at the sand, and rather at a cold, hard, rocky floor.

Lilandra let out something akin to a disbelieving laugh. It started out quietly before gaining more and more pitch, until it finally became somewhat manic. She threw her hands up in the air and focused on the small part of the underworld that she had called her own.

And in a glorious shimmer she soon found herself standing in the place she had seen off and on in her dreams. Her lair was almost exactly as she had left it, with the _Grimoire_ resting on the old table beside her mortar and pestle, her Seeing bowl, and a few ingredients that had since then gone bad. The place smelled foul, like rotten manure and dead plants. She certainly hadn't left it that way, but it was obvious that the scent was coming from the things on her table.

With a whisk of her hand, the ingredients were thrown into a nearby basin, landing in it and making a squishing sound. She didn't care about them. Fresh ingredients could always be found, and it was only a few…she still had the _Grimoire_, and she still had the same near blinding revenge from before.

This time, she wasn't going to fail.

This time, the new Charmed Ones were going to pay or what they did.


	7. A Sudden Heat Wave

Author's Notes: I'M BACK! And the story is back! I dunno exactly what brought my muse to attention with this story, but while working on my Sailor Moon story, I got the incredible urge to write for this one, and I've picked right up where I left off. So sorry that I made that last chapter the 'last', so to speak! It was just a way of putting the story on pause until I could get working on it again. Now that summer's here, hopefully I can finish this one. ;)

Don't forget to review! :D

* * *

Whether it was because they didn't want it to be true, or because they didn't want to bring it up with Wyatt, neither Chris nor Mel mentioned what they had experienced to their older brother, who went back to living his life separate from the two of them. Chris was absolutely certain of the fact that if Wyatt had heard an astral echo or something of the like, then he would have told them. As he hadn't, then he figured it wasn't anything to be super concerned about. After all, there were more demons out there that were doing harm, demons that needed to be sought out and vanquished.

But things remained oddly quiet for the next week and a half. His Aunt Paige's birthday went by without a hitch, and was enjoyed by everyone. It wasn't anything more than a dinner at her house—an intimate family get-together. She absolutely loved the gift that Chris had given her, which made him happy. And to his credit, he hadn't become upset when she expressed her love for the books that Mel had chosen for her.

The next time they had all designated to meet up was for his mom's birthday that following weekend. It arrived easily, quickly, in almost a sneaky manner. Everyone had been so busy, and so it surprised them.

It was unusually hot for an August day in San Francisco, and Chris, who was sitting in the living room on the couch, fanned himself with a paper fan that he had made from some paper from his printer upstairs. It was only noon, but it had already reached the high-80s. What was going _on_, he wondered? The weather hardly moved past the 70s, which was the main reason they didn't have an air conditioner. For days like this, however, he wished they did. Wearing just jean shorts and a t-shirt only did so much to alleviate the ridiculously unbearable heat.

"Mom!" he called. When he got no response right away, he called again. "Mom!"

Piper appeared from in the kitchen, moving through the dining room toward the sitting room, where Chris saw her. "What?" she asked.

"Do we have any juice?"

She rolled her eyes and snorted. "You brought me out of the kitchen for that? You could have just come and checked yourself."

"It's _hot_," Chris said with a light whine to his voice. He stretched out over the couch, tugging his t-shirt down to cover his stomach.

"Why don't you come and see for yourself?" she said, not giving in. "And why don't you come help me? You know your dad's out getting extra stuff for dinner tonight, and that Mel won't be back from work until about four. And Wyatt won't be here until around the same time. It won't kill you."

His mom made a good point. Chris just didn't really feel like doing anything. It was for her birthday, however, and so he finally turned, lifted himself up off the couch with a grunt, then stretched again. "Yeah, okay."

Chris followed Piper into the kitchen, half-expecting to be overwhelmed by even more heat. To his surprise, the kitchen was, in fact, a little cooler than the rest of the house had been. The drapes to the windows were closed, but not a whole lot of direct sunlight was actually penetrating them. It was then that he remembered how the afternoon sun was hitting the conservatory at that time. No wonder the living room had been so hot; it was on the same side. He felt like an idiot for forgetting.

"So, what do you want me to help with?"

He looked over the vast array of food that his mom was in the midst of preparing. There was everything from delicious looking rabbit dishes to plates of mini sandwiches and Jell-o with whipped cream on top of it: everything to keep the family cool on a day when the weather refused to be everything but.

"Well, I need to put it all in the fridge, first and foremost. This is just the appetizer stuff. Dinner I'll be making later, when your dad comes back with the hamburger and hot dog buns."

"Sure."

Not surprisingly, helping his mom with what she needed to get done didn't take very long. When they finished, he gave her a hand in cleaning up, after which she went into the living room to make a phone call and check in on the restaurant. This left him to his own devices again, and now that he had cooled down a little bit, Chris felt like it was time to make a phone call of his own. He hadn't actually _spoken_ to Landon in a while; text messaging had been their main way of keeping in contact while the older one was on a business trip. But a message last night on Chris' phone let him know that he was back in San Francisco, safe and sound. The only thing that had kept him from calling right then was the jet lag that the other had likely felt.

When Chris holed up in his room, he grabbed his cell phone off of his nightstand, flipping it open. The screen lit up, flashing a message that he had a missed call. Clicking the OK button, he found that it was from Landon, and that he had just barely missed it by a few minutes.

Landon was surely still able to talk, Chris told himself as he dialed the other's number. It rang a few times, but when the call went through and he heard his boyfriend's voice, a smile formed on the dark haired witch's mouth.

"Hey, baby," Landon said. "I just tried calling you a minute ago. Where were you?"

"Hey," Chris replied. "I was downstairs helping my mom with some food. We're having her birthday dinner tonight."

"Yeah, I remember." There was cheerfulness in Landon's tone. "Just wanted to call and say hey, see what was up with you. How's it going?"

Chris laughed. "Funny you should ask, cause I was just about to call you, too, actually, and see how everything was. How was your flight back?" He moved toward his bed and took a seat on it.

There was a groan on the other line that usually indicated Landon was stretching. "Not bad," came his answer. "A little long. But you know how cross-country flights can be."

_Actually, not really_, Chris thought to himself. Orbing came in handy for that very reason. He chuckled. "Yeah, yeah, they're awful. I'm sure you slept most of the way though."

"Damn right I did. I've never _not_ slept on a plane ride longer than two hours. Without anything to entertain me…"

The younger one snorted. "Aww…poor baby."

Since he didn't often talk on the phone, at least outside of talking with Landon, he started picking at his toes while doing so—it was just something to keep him occupied while he listened. "We still on for our regular Monday thing?" he asked after a moment.

"Yup," was all Landon said. Then he yawned.

"Jetlag?"

"Something like that. I haven't gone to sleep yet. I'm trying to hold off, so I can get back on a regular schedule. And that way, come Monday, I won't look like some kind of zombie traveler."

"You wouldn't, anyways," Chris laughed. "Freak."

"You say that now…" He could tell Landon was grinning by his tone of voice. "I'm gonna go now, though. Gotta find something for lunch…maybe go out to the grocery store. My cupboards are looking kinda bare."

"All righty. Thanks for calling."

Chris was smiling again, and he tried to refrain from doing it too much. It wasn't like anyone could see, but it felt like he was being far too obvious about it. He had never figured himself the type to get so excited about talking to someone…but whenever he spoke with Landon, it never failed to make him happy. Part of him knew it was completely irrational, but another part of him told him to stop worrying about it. Everyone was entitled to a little happiness every now and then. Plus, he really needed to stop the over-analyzing of things. It was beginning to bother even _him_.

"Bye, babe. Talk to you later."

"Talk to you later! Bye."

He hung up the phone. Even though the call had been short, Chris was thankful for it. It gave him some peace of mind, and it distracted him from the ridiculous heat outside. Plus, any time he got to talk to Landon was good.

Now it was just time to wait for the rest of the family to arrive.

. . .

"Mom! Dad needs the spatula!"

Chris stepped into the kitchen through the laundry room, wiping his forehead with his forearm. It was still hot as hell outside, and without any cloud cover, it was easy to get hot. At this rate, he figured they were going to get sunburned if they were out there for more than just a minute's time.

"It's above the stove!" Piper called, pointing.

She was in the dining room, setting up the table with Billie's help. Chris recognized her familiar shoulder length blonde hair. Billie didn't come over so much nowadays, but whenever she did, it usually was for family gatherings. When he thought of it, there wasn't one event up until this point that he could recall wherein Billie hadn't been there. It made him snort quietly.

"Chris!"

His father's voice caught his attention again, bringing him back around to what he needed to do. Wandering over to the stove, he grabbed the spatula, then headed back outside on the porch to where Leo and Wyatt were, the former to whom he handed the kitchen utensil.

"Here, Dad."

"Thanks."

But they weren't the only ones outside. Chris and Wyatt's Aunt Paige's youngest two, the twins, were also out there, watching Leo as he flipped the burgers and turned over the hot dogs. The barbeque was covered in cooking meat, and would likely continue to be for the next hour or so. There were sixteen people to feed, after all. The smoke rose into the bright, cloudless blue sky, and the heat that emanated from the barbeque distorted the air around it, making it wavy in appearance.

Leo turned to his sons. "All right, why don't you two go inside and help your mom while I finish up here? Janice, Sam, you two can stay out here if you want."

Wyatt and Chris nodded, turned around, and then headed back into the house. It was cooler when they arrived inside, and the younger witch went to the fridge to retrieve his frozen mug of water from the freezer. Once he did, he shut the door, then looked over at his brother. A smirk appeared on his face.

"How the hell do you turn red without even being in the sun?" he asked.

Wyatt frowned, causing white creases to appear in his forehead and around his eyes. "Cause unlike you and Mel, I got mom's pale ass skin that makes me burn no matter what." He moved toward the refrigerator and pushed Chris aside. He snorted. "Outta my way, midget."

"Go put on some sunscreen, giant," Chris countered, smacking his brother on the shoulder and watching him wince. In order to prevent Wyatt from attacking him back, the younger one bound out of the kitchen and into the dining room. The previously faint chatting sound of the other members of his family became louder then, as they were all spread out in the sunroom, which had by that point cooled and was shadier than before.

When Chris stepped into the large archway between the dining room and the sunroom, he leaned against the wall, offering a wave to the large group that was his family. His mom was there, as were his sister, his two aunts and uncles, all of his cousins from his Aunt Phoebe and Uncle Coop, as well as his only male cousin, Henry Junior.

What they would even be talking about, he really had no idea. Something that could span the age gap among them all had to be hard to find. It was normally why he didn't spend much time in these large family gatherings. He loved all of his cousins, but he was definitely closer to Henry Junior. It was no surprise that Mel and Patty were sitting next to each other on the small loveseat beside the large tropical plant near the corner of the sunroom.

"What's up, Ladybug?" Chris asked as he stepped over to where the two girls were sitting.

Mel and Patty were chatting animatedly about something, however, the second that the older Halliwell appeared, they clammed up. There was something suspicious about it. Chris raised an eyebrow.

"What?" Mel asked.

"I asked, what's up?"

"Nothing," Patty said. She brushed some of her short, light brown hair behind her ear. "We were just talking."

"Yeah, I know," Chris said. He refrained from rolling his eyes. "I was wondering about what, since you two are over here by yourselves."

"None of your business," Mel said to her older brother, who now couldn'thelp _but_ roll his eyes.

"Fine, fine. Whatever. See if I try to find interest in your conversations anymore."

As Chris walked away, he couldn't help but think about the fact that things between him and Mel had seemed to gravitate back to how they had been about two weeks previous. They weren't quite at each other's throats and arguing about nothing, but they were bickering again. To their credit, however, they hadn't downright fought about anything, and were helping each other more often. But still, the dark haired witch couldn't help but think that what their mother had done had been done in slight vain.

Sipping at his water, he moved over to the white bench and took a seat on the arm of the chair, right by his Aunt Phoebe. She smiled and patted his thigh.

"Heya, Chris. How're the burgers coming along?"

"Good, good," Chris said. The truth was, he had no idea. But their dad liked to barbeque, so he was sure that they couldn't be too bad. "So what's going on in here?"

"Not much," Piper said. "We're just talking about the weird weather. Your Aunt Paige thinks it's demonic."

"Of course she does," Chris joked. His aunt, who was sitting in a chair not too far away from him, leaned in and smacked his knee. He jerked to the side, nearly spilling some water on the tile floor. "Ow, hey!"

"I've never been wrong about these things, you know," Paige said somewhat flatly, but with a hint of amusement in her voice.

"Demon free is the way to be," Phoebe said. She shook her head. "It's been what, like two weeks? Three?"

"More or less," Coop added. Having been leaning against the archway wall by the sitting room, he pushed off it and moved close to Phoebe. "Want some more water?"

"God, yes," she said. "It's ridiculously hot."

"Back soon."

Right about the time that Coop disappeared into the dining room, Chris heard some giggling over where his sister and Patty were. When he sent a glance in their direction they shut up, almost giving him a glare. He didn't know what their problem was. As he turned his attention back to his family, there was a sudden shouting of his name inside his head. It caused him to wince.

The last thing that he had been expecting was the call of a charge. Especially from one that he didn't hear from very often.

"What's that all about?" Piper asked, having noticed the way her son twitched.

"Charge," Chris muttered. "God, it's too hot to deal with this stuff today. And especially this one in particular."

"I remember those," Paige chuckled.

"I've gotta go put my shoes on…"

He waved to the group of his family as a means of saying goodbye, and wandered up the stairs to his room to grab some socks. Last time he had worn sandals when going and helping a charge, he regretted it. This time, he wasn't going to make the same mistake.

As he grabbed the socks, he heard the shout again, but this time, it came much more urgently than before. That increased some of the irritation Chris felt. This charge of his—Max—was notorious for false alarms. He would have much preferred not going.

Not that he had a choice, he thought as he slipped on his shoes, orbing out of the house.


	8. Dealing with a Charge

Author's Note: Here's chapter 8! It's a little shorter than most of the others, but that's because if I didn't make it short, it would have made the next chapter WAAAY too long. I like ones that are generally the same size, so you can expect about the same amount of time reading with each and every chapter. Don't forget to review! I always love feedback of any kind, or reactions, etc. :D

* * *

Chris materialized somewhere in the fields of Golden Gate park. The sun was high in the sky and was instantly hot on his bare skin. He sought shelter under one of the nearby trees, and he called out his charge's name.

"Max!"

There was no answer at first. But when he called out Max's name again, he saw a head pop out from behind a tree some couple dozen yards away. Surprise of all surprises, it ended up being his charge's. He could recognize the bleach blond spikes from anywhere.

_Max, what're you _doing?Chris thought irritably. He orbed in an instant, appearing right beside his charge, who kept his back against the tree, as if hiding from something.

Chris almost scowled, but he managed to somehow stop himself. "What's going on?"

"There's something following me," Max said. He gestured his head suggestively over his shoulder, toward the flat plains of the park.

Chris, not really sure what to think, decided to peek around the tree to where the other was gesturing. When he saw nothing he turned his attention to his charge, now no longer refraining from scowling some.

"Look," he began, "you pulled me away from something that was pretty import—"

Out of the blue, something knocked the wind out of the whitelighter and sent him flying through the air. He landed on the ground with a heavy thud, the wind knocked out of him and his body paralyzed. Chris saw a flash of white before everything went black, only to form the familiar stars of odd yellow light as his vision came back into focus. Grunting, he looked up and tried to see what hit him. But he saw nothing.

"Did you see it!?" Max nearly squealed.

For being nearly twenty-seven, Chris thought, this guy was a real wimp.

"No!" Chris groaned. "Where is—"

Whatever it was hit him again, sending his head right back into the dry, somewhat yellow grass. He swore he heard a growl, but it was almost like a whisper in his ear. It didn't make any sense. How come he couldn't see whatever was attacking him? And why did it sound so odd?

Mustering up what focus and energy he could, Chris orbed himself away from where he was lying and just a bit further away, near a bush. This gave him the chance to at least stand up. Soon he felt a gush of wind—where had it come from?—before something nearly came at him. His instincts led him to throw his hand up just in the knick of time, and with a familiar sensation, he felt his telekinesis knock away whatever it was that had just tried to come near him. The beast went flying through the air and hit the tree just as Max ducked and dove out of the way.

Chris sort of limped over to where the beast was, it now being visible. He didn't recognize it, but he could tell by the glistening sheen on its scaly skin that it must have had the ability to cloak itself in its environment, if not turn completely invisible. When he kicked the creature it stirred, and so he summoned a nearby stick with his power before jabbing it right into the beast's heart. Unlike most other demons it didn't explode or burn; rather it disintegrated, turning into a pile of what was either dirt or manure. He couldn't…really be sure which. Either way, it was gone, so the immediate danger to Max's life—which still surprised Chris as being true—no longer posed a threat.

He slowly walked toward his charge and gave a grunt of effort as he helped him up. Max brushed himself off and smiled, his originally pale cheeks now bright pink, with small blotches of red. His dark brown eyes were alight.

"Man, that's the first time a demon's come after me in some time! I thought I was a goner."

"You have a power, you know," Chris said, tone almost chastising. "You…kind of need to learn how to use it. I can't fight all your demons for you."

"No, but you _can_ help," Max said. "Besides, what am I gonna do? Make it go numb? I can't paralyze what I can't touch or see."

He had a point in this case, but Chris was reluctant to concede that fact. So, he gave a noncommittal sort of shrug. Max was one of those difficult charges who refused to believe he was in the wrong. "Do you need me to take you home?"

"Nah," Max said. "I was actually out here on a picnic with my girlfriend, but she ended up getting called into work. It's a busy world, the E.R. But anyway," he waved his hand, "I ate the rest of the picnic myself and then packed it up in the car and thought I'd go for a walk. That's when that damn thing attacked me, whatever it was."

"Didn't seem too intelligent. It was probably just some natural beast that wanted your food, or…well, you." Chris scratched his sweaty nose. God, this heat was still so unbearable…

"Ah, but it's gone now! So no worries. Life seems much better, and for that, I'm happy. Thanks!"

As Chris said his goodbye and moved to a safe spot where he could orb back to the manor, he recalled why it was that he tried with all of his might to avoid this charge at all costs.

He was just too _weird_.

. . .

"And…the point of the hot weather is…?"

The man's near mightier-than-thou tone of voice grated on Lilandra's nerves. If she hadn't needed him, she would have killed him in an instant. Generally, she preferred to work alone. There was no need to fear mutiny in that case, or a need to share the glory. Independence was bliss.

But there were many things that she couldn't do here, and changing the weather was one of them. This man stood alone in his ability in doing so, and part of her wished it were simply an innate power of his so that she could just steal it and be done with him.

As it was, however, she couldn't. Whatever he did, he did it through special chants that occurred in phases, and which involved special ingredients whose names she didn't know at all. Completely beyond her purview. And she didn't have the time to learn it.

If he questioned her once more, though…

Lilandra turned to him, rubbing her hands down the front of her tattered black pants. It wouldn't hurt to explain it.

"Because the weather above here very rarely exceeds a certain temperature. Throwing off something as sensitive as temperature in a climate can have very adverse effects on those who come to depend on it. By increasing the heat in their environment, I'm making my targets more disoriented, more confused, and above all, _distracted_. The less they sense my return, the better."

The man, who was dressed in flowing robes of a goldenrod color, raised one of his thick, black eyebrows in such a way that it looked like a moving caterpillar on his darkly tanned forehead. "You're going after the Charmed Ones' progeny, aren't you?" He tsked. "Very brave. All who've gone against them have suffered very painful deaths."

"Tell me about it," she muttered under her breath. Then, slightly louder, she added, "Yes, but at any rate, I'm not concerned. I've had a brush with death once before, and this time, I refuse to allow anything to get in the way. Consider it a strengthening of my resolve."

"Revenge is blinding," the man said, offering a shrug.

"Shut up, Veris," Lilandra snapped suddenly. She had really had enough with his know-it-all remarks, especially when aimed toward her and her choices. Perhaps killing him would be worth the loss of his abilities.

Veris held his hands up and bowed, showing his submission to Lilandra's power. It appeased her, but only momentarily. Afterward, she pursed her lips. Luck permitting, she thought, she could put phase two of her plan into place very, very soon. With the eldest child all on his own, getting to him would prove to be much easier than before. And from her own experience, the control that Wyatt had over his siblings would undoubtedly do her a world of good.

She had made a mistake going after the youngest first. They would have expected something like that, and would likely be expecting it again if news of her return ever made it to their ears. Going after the powerhouse? It was near suicide, unheard of, but if done properly…

A tingle traveled down her spine at the thought of it. Someone as powerful as him under her control…it would be _very _difficult to accomplish. However, the benefits would _far_ outweigh everything given up in order to obtain them.

She curled her hands up, eventually balling them into fists. With her back now to Veris, Lilandra stepped closer to the center of her lair, staring down at the_ Grimoire_ on her rickety old table.

"Show time," she murmured, tone ringing with something akin to eagerness.


	9. Wyatt Meets a Girl

Author's Notes: Updating may be a little bit more sporadic in the next few weeks. The good news is that I just finished chapter eleven of the story, but apparently a coworker of mine had to quit, so I'm being forced to work more hours, and it's exhausting, being on your feet 9 hours a day. Yikes. Anyways, enjoy!!

* * *

"Get ready to expect these hot days well throughout the week. Our weather reports indicate that we'll continue to experience this freak heat wave for at least the next few days, if not longer…"

Wyatt furrowed his brow in concern. It was still hot…_abnormally_ hot for this region. At first he hadn't thought much of it. Global warming had screwed with the weather pretty badly over the last few decades, it getting gradually hotter and hotter. But it still never stepped into the high 70s or 80s for more than one or two days max in the San Francisco area.

However, they were entering day five now of this completely strange heat wave, and that was enough to set off alarms in the blond witch's head. For all he knew, it may have just been something meteorological, something beyond his understanding. But he had to trust his gut feeling…the feeling that what they were dealing with was something demonic.

Maybe his Aunt Paige had been right in suggesting that something evil was going on. There was no way to investigate it, however. Not with all that they had going on. He, his brother _and_ his sister all had jobs. Plus, he and Chris had several charges each, which took up even more of _their_ time. It was Wyatt's hope that his brother and sister were thinking the same thing he was—that evil was afoot—so that when he went to the manor that night after work, the three of them could come up with some way of finding out what was going on.

Wyatt turned off the television and went into his small kitchen to grab himself a glass of water before he headed off for work. As he drank, he stared out at the street over which his window looked, having to squint his eyes from the blinding light that bathed it. It was business as usual on the streets it seemed, which was good to know. It made their jobs a little easier. If there were no glaringly obvious signs of evil afoot, it meant things weren't so bad. Or so he had learned.

After putting his glass in the sink, Wyatt made his way to the front door, snatched up his keys from the end table beside it, then stepped outside into the hallway, locking up his apartment behind him. He was reluctant to leave the nice, cool air-conditioning of the inside of his complex, if only because he had to walk a ways to the parking lot. And like an idiot, he didn't have any sunscreen on. What was the point of putting it on, though, when he wasn't going to be outside for more than a few minutes, he thought?

When Wyatt gripped the vertical, black metal handle of the glass door that led outside, he stumbled back; someone was already opening it from the outside. He gave a sound of surprise, stepping aside to let inside whoever it was.

What came through dumbfounded him. A woman, not much shorter than him, with a curvy, full figure, pale skin and dark auburn hair, approached him. She had a somewhat confused expression on her round face, and Wyatt couldn't help but stare.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry," she said, removing her sunglasses. Behind them were the greenest pair of eyes he had ever seen. "You okay?"

Wyatt nodded. He chuckled, in something similar to embarrassment. "Yeah, I'm fine. I should've been watching where I was going. Hadn't put my sunglasses on, yet." His eyes traveled over her body, and he admired the way her light blue blouse and white capri pants fit on her.

She laughed. "Yeah, it's a real monster out there today. I haven't seen heat like this since going back home to Florida a while ago!"

"Florida?" he asked. "Wow, you've come a long way." He wondered how a girl native to Florida could have such naturally pale skin. She must have taken very good care of it and avoided the sun whenever possible. "I don't think I've seen you around here before." He extended his hand to her. "I'm Wyatt Halliwell. I live upstairs, apartment 3B."

The woman smiled and took his hand, shaking it firmly. "I'm Lily Gulmay. I've lived in 2D for about…hmm, close to a year and a half, now. Wow, it's been so long! But anyways, when did you move in?"

"Oh, about two months ago," Wyatt explained with a wave of his hand.

Lily smiled at him. "Well, hopefully I see you around more often. There aren't too many other young people in this complex…" She laughed. "I'm only twenty-two, but sometimes I feel like I'm younger with all of these forty-somethings and their kids running around."

"God, don't I know that feeling! I chose this place cause it had the cheapest rent without it being too…well, _cheap_ looking, itself, but the trade-off is the paper thin walls and the loud kids in the apartment beside me. But hey, it's my first place away from home, so." The blond witch smiled, too, and he folded his arms over his chest.

"This is my second apartment. I had to downsize for a couple of reasons, but that's another story for another day." Lily shifted her purse to her other shoulder.

Wyatt stood there for a moment, almost awkwardly gaping at her. Lily was _very_ pretty, and it was kind of difficult not to stare. After realizing he _was_ staring, he looked away, feeling his cheeks turn slightly pink. He got control of himself rather quickly, and he glanced up at her, raising his eyebrows a little. "Haha! Well, then we should get together sometime. I could give you my number if you want, and we could go get a drink. Young people should stick together."

A faint grin lit up Lily's face. "Mm, that sounds like a good idea." From her purse she retrieved her cell phone, eying Wyatt. "What is it?"

After giving his number, the blond witch caught sight of what time it was on the clock on his phone. It caused his heart to nearly drop into the pit of his stomach. "Crap!" he exclaimed suddenly.

"What?"

"Oh, I've just—" He paused. "I've just gotta jet to work." He laughed. "This is why I usually leave a few minutes early."

"Well!" Lily pursed her lips in amusement. "I'll let you get going. Give me a call sometime?"

"You can bet on it," Wyatt said, his tone slightly flirtatious.

As Lily stepped further into the somewhat compact hallway, she reached up and ran a hand through her hair, which cascaded down to the middle of her back. "See you later, then."

Wyatt watched Lily leave, tilting his head slightly to the side as he stared after her. His mouth was slightly agape.

"_Damn_."

. . .

Chris gingerly tugged on his white collared shirt after he headed back into the kitchen and set a blue tub full of dirty dishes beside the sink. Even in the restaurant, it was too freaking _hot_. He just didn't understand it.

But thankfully, he didn't have to worry about that much anymore. He was done with his shift after he brought the tub of dishes in, and not a moment too soon. He said his goodbyes to his coworkers and to his mom, who instead of cooking, was overlooking the production and making sure everything that went out was up to par. He gave her a kiss before he disappeared into the break room, grabbed his street clothes, and then wandered into the employee restroom so that he could change into them.

With his bag in hand, Chris walked through the kitchen and out the back exit, where he was met with the same muggy, heavy feeling air that had suffocated him on the inside, as well. Only out here, he didn't have the luxury of going out into the main area of the restaurant, where the air conditioning at least made it a little more bearable.

Part of him wanted to just orb home and be done with it. But Wyatt had sent him a text message telling him that he wanted to hang out after work, and that he was going to pick him up after his shift. So, Chris slipped through the back area and the alley beside it, coming onto the street. Unsurprisingly, there were very few places to hide from the sun. But, he managed to find shelter underneath the awnings out in front of his mother's restaurant, where he waited for Wyatt.

While he did so, he sent Landon a text message, asking how he was doing. Just as he hit the button, he noticed his brother's Honda Civic pulling up. Knowing not to waste time trying to let him find a parking space, Chris bolted from underneath the awning and toward Wyatt, climbing into the passenger side. The A/C was running, and it was paradise.

"Hey," Wyatt greeted.

Once Chris was comfortably in the seat he replied, "Hey. What's up?"

"Not much," his brother said. He shifted into reverse and backed up just a little before putting it into drive and heading down the street. "How was work?"

"Exhausting, as always." Chris turned the little vent toward him, aiming it at his face. "You?"

"'Bout the same. Glad to be done with it for the day. I've been waiting to get something to eat for ages."

Even if Chris wouldn't come right out and say it, he was glad that Wyatt had invited him out for the night. They didn't always get along, but they were still very close, and his brother was pretty much his best friend. He enjoyed spending time with him, which nowadays seemed a slight rarity. They hadn't had a chance to talk since their mom's birthday, and that was nearly a week ago.

The dark haired witch turned toward the other and said, "So, where we going?"

"Figured we could grab a burger." Wyatt smirked. "I didn't think you'd want to go anywhere fancy after work."

Chris chuckled. "Yeah. God. I love Mom, but eating there always makes me feel…I dunno. Posh is the only word I can think of, but that sounds so bad."

"Eh, no worries. She can't hear ya."

The two of them continued to drive in intermittent silence, conversation occasionally breaking through to keep it from growing uncomfortable. When they arrived at the locally owned burger shoppe, Wyatt and Chris got out of the car and made a break for the inside. The sun was relentless.

Once inside, they ordered their burgers, fries and drinks and found a table against one of the inner walls of the place, far away from the windows through which the sun shone strongly.

After eating in silence for a few moments, Wyatt took a drink of his soda, swallowed, and then said, "So. Dude. Guess what."

"What?" Chris asked around chewing a couple of fries.

"I met the _hottest_ girl today."

"Oh yeah?" The younger witch raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. Her name's Lily. She lives in my apartment complex. I got her number today."

Chris snorted. That was just like his brother. Wyatt hadn't been on a date in over a month, which _wasn't_ like him. He normally went out at least every weekend. He chalked it up to all of the commotion that came from moving.

"So what's she like?" he asked.

"Get this. She's about your height, maybe a little shorter, with a nice, curvy body and the most _beautiful _green eyes I've _ever_ seen." He paused, and Chris swore that the grin his brother wore was almost lewd. "And her ass is _awesome_."

Whenever Wyatt described the girls he was attracted to, it always made Chris just a little uncomfortable. He chuckled, just slightly uneasily. "God, Wyatt. I'm sure she loved being objectified."

"She knows she looks good," he stated. "I mean, she was very aware of the fact that I was looking at her. And _she_ asked for _my_ number. So I _know_ she's interested."

"Well, good for you." After Chris took a bite of his burger, he chewed it up, then smiled. "About time you got back on the horse."

Wyatt and Chris continued to talk and enjoy their food for a while longer. When the time came for them to be finished, they put their trays on top of the little counter by the bathrooms, then went back out and got into the car, driving back to the manor. Both of them were comfortably full, and combined with the exhaustion from work, Chris felt like just collapsing on the couch and stretching out.

Not surprisingly, that was exactly what he did the moment he got home. It was cooler in the manor than it was outside, and for that he was eternally grateful.

"Hey, hey, don't get too comfortable," Wyatt said in a lightly warning tone. He gestured for Chris to sit back up.

Chris waved his hand in a dismissive manner and gave a grunt. "I'm taking a break."

"Yeah, well, I got something else we need to talk about." He suddenly shouted, "Mel!" and it caused Chris to twitch. He hated it when Wyatt shouted. His voice boomed unnecessarily well.

A couple of seconds later, their sister came down the stairs, dressed in a pair of white shorts and a tank top. Her hair was up in a ponytail. "Wyatt!" she said in cheerful surprise. She made her way closer and stopped once she was in the archway between the foyer and the living room. "What're you doing here?"

"I had something I needed to talk to you two about." Wyatt motioned for Mel to sit, which she did. Afterward, he folded his arms over his chest and sighed. "Have either of you…felt anything weird lately?"

Chris moved to sit up. In the back of his head, the memory of hearing Lilandra's voice resurfaced. A look at Mel's face told him that she, too, was recalling something.

"Have you heard it, too?" Mel asked curiously.

Wyatt's face contorted to a confused look. "Heard what?"

Soon, Mel wore an equally confused look. "Wait, what're _you_ talking about?"

Chris blinked. "Wait. I don't think—"

"I was talking about the heat wave," Wyatt interrupted. "What're _you_ talking about?"

Before Mel could respond, Chris interjected, "Mel and I heard some weird stuff a while ago, but we figured it wasn't anything."

"You figured it wasn't anything?" Piper's eldest furrowed his brow, now both looking and sounding irritated. "Why the hell would you think that, knowing what we do?"

"Because there's no way in hell that Lilandra would come back after what we did to her!" Chris replied defensively.

"It's just that we heard these weird echoes or something," Mel explained. She stepped closer to her brothers. "Astral echoes are rare, though, and she caused a lot of drama, so—"

"But we should still _talk_ about it," Wyatt said. There was urgency in his voice. "What if she _is _back? What if _she's_ the one causing the issues with the heat? You can't just _not_ mention things about Lilandra after all we went through with her."

"I doubt she's behind it," Chris quipped. "Lilandra didn't have that kind of power." Suddenly, however, he didn't feel so sure. "Did she?"

"How would she even come back anyways," Mel muttered. "That's not something demons can usually do."

"Well, there's a demonic wasteland for a reason." Wyatt wrinkled up his nose. "Remember when Aunt Phoebe told us about Cole, and all the stuff that he did down there? It's not far fetched to think that Lilandra could do the same. She seems resilient enough."

Chris shifted, moving to stand. "Then I guess we keep our guard up." He didn't like to think that his spell had been so easily dodged. He wanted it to _hurt_, so for her to just…completely bypass that…

He shook his head.

This whole situation had taken a very quick turn for the worst, he thought. If it was true…if Lilandra was back, then they had a lot to worry about. Vengeance was a nightmarish thing, and a demon scorned would likely do anything to try and get back at the ones who vanquished it. With someone as clever as Lilandra, they had their work cut out for them. Chris tried not to let the sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach get worse than it already was.

"For what it's worth," Wyatt continued, "I _don't_ think she's behind the heat wave. She's a powerful demon, but she doesn't have dominion over the weather. We need to look at the other signs, see if there isn't something the universe is trying to tell us. There may be some new force out there that's making its presence known."

"So what, Tarot, dream interpretation, all that?" Mel asked.

"Basically. You're good at that kind of stuff, Mel, so why don't you work on that tomorrow?" Mel nodded. Wyatt turned to look at Chris. "You and I can do a bit more investigating out on the field. Maybe interrogate some demons."

"That always ends up for the best," Chris murmured. He was being just a little sarcastic, as usual. But Wyatt was right. Interrogation often was the best course of action, especially since the two of them had a reputation down in the underworld for being particularly…persuasive. That made him smirk faintly.

"All right, so we've got a battle plan. I think before we let Mom and Dad know anything, we need to make sure we're right. No sense in worrying them over things that we could be wrong about."

Chris and Mel nodded.

Right around then, the dark haired witch's cell phone started ringing. It was Landon; he could tell by the specific ring tone that he had given him. This wasn't a good time. But despite himself, he still wanted to pick up the phone. Both Wyatt and Mel looked at him, expecting him to announce who it was.

Instead of doing that, he just excused himself and disappeared into the sitting room, flipping open his phone and answering it with a quiet, "Hello?"

"Hey, baby," came Landon's cheerful voice. "You have any plans for the night?"

Chris looked back at his siblings, who were watching him intently. He turned around and stepped further into the back of the house, toward the dining room. "Hey. Actually…yeah, I kind of do. Family emergency. I gotta go."

"Oh." Chris could hear the disappointment in Landon's voice, and he tried not to let it get to him. "All righty. Well, I've got tomorrow off, so…gimme a call if you wanna do something?"

"Yeah, count on it."

"I'll talk to you later then."

"Mm. Yeah. Bye!"

Although Chris hated having to rush off of the phone like that, family always came first. As he closed his phone he turned around and moved back to the foyer, where his siblings were waiting for him.

"I'll see if I can't find something in the _Book of Shadows_ about weather cues, and other things we can look for," Chris said immediately. "It's important to remember that these things come in threes."

"Well, duh," Mel snorted. "And don't worry about it, I'll look it up. Gives me something to do tomorrow before work." She shifted. "But tonight, I need to bolt. I've got plans with Patty." She moved in and gave Wyatt a hug, who returned it. "It was good seeing you! Come back when it isn't something demonically related, huh?"

That was the last thing she said before she turned around and made her way back upstairs, leaving Wyatt and Chris alone. When Chris looked at his brother, he made a face.

"What?"

"Was that your boytoy?" Wyatt asked, almost smirking.

"Oh, please!" Chris shook his head. "He's not my 'boytoy',"—he used air quotes—"he's…" He didn't really know what else to say here besides "boyfriend", but it almost seemed like Wyatt would make fun of that, too.

"He's what? Your babylove? Your kinky daddy?"

Chris turned bright red, and he reached out, shoving Wyatt back. "God, you pervert, that's disgusting!"

"What?" the older witch laughed. "I'm just asking questions here."

"_Offensive_ and _pointless_ ones."

"Questions nonetheless."

"Whatever," Chris said, and he chose to change the subject. "You wanna come over tomorrow—" But he stopped himself. "No, not tomorrow. Um, what's today, Wednesday? Come over Friday."

Wyatt opened his mouth to say something, but seemed to change his mind. "Nah, I'll ask her out Saturday. Anyway, yeah. Friday we can come up with some kind of plan if the signs are pointing towards a greater power." He shook his head. "How much you wanna bet we're dealing with some demon that thinks it's the shit, when in reality Mel'll be able to blow 'em up and we won't even need the power of three?"

"Likely," Chris offered with a shrug. "But, better to be safe than sorry."

"Our mantra," Wyatt said.


	10. There's Something About Lily

Author's Notes: So somehow, I managed to pinch a nerve in my right arm, which is just...not awesome, because I use it to type, obviously, and it hurts to type this right now. So updates may be a little spread out like they already were. I'm on chapter 14 in writing so I have more coming, but I just wanted to give everyone a heads up. Hope you enjoy this chapter as well. :)

* * *

Lily stared at herself in the full-length mirror that hung on the inside of her closet door. She was still wearing the same light blue blouse and white capris from before, and she admired the way that they all fit on her body. She had worked hard to make herself look so good. How was she going to be appealing, otherwise?

With a wave of her hand in front of the length of her body, Lily's figure transformed to a skinnier, slightly scragglier looking form. Now reflected was jet-black hair, even paler skin, and eyes that burned with intensity despite the bags beneath them.

Lilandra cleared her throat. In her real body, wearing what she was made her look like one of those common whores on the street. She quickly changed back into her original outfit—her tattered black pants and loosely fitting red and black tunic. That was much more to her liking.

She noticed a whimpering sound coming from within the closet. After she identified it as her victim, she shut the closet door and growled. "Shut up, girl. You're lucky I kept you alive. If you don't behave, I'll kill you in an instant."

One of the only reasons that she _didn't_ kill her was exposure. Lilandra wasn't stupid. If she killed her, there was a chance that Wyatt would catch wind of it and discover that she was there. She couldn't let her plan end like that, not that quickly. It had taken long enough trying to find someone in the complex whose life she could assume in the first place, and that had been through sheer luck. She refused to allow these chances to slip through her fingers.

One by one they would fall, she told herself yet again. They would pay for what they did. She couldn't wait to feel that delightfully euphoric feeling that came with revenge. Veris didn't know what he was talking about, saying that revenge was blinding. She wasn't blinded. Oh, no. Her vision was _very_ clear.

Lilandra was just about to disappear back to her lair when the cell phone on the bed began to ring. She didn't want to answer it, but she wandered over to it and checked it nonetheless. Her lips curled upward into an undeniable smirk.

The caller ID read: Wyatt Halliwell.

. . .

Chris hadn't felt quite this antsy in some time.

For the most part, he almost never went over to Landon's apartment; he could count the number of times he had been there on both of his hands. But he preferred it that way, because it kept each time unique and special. He could recall all of them, too, unlike majority of the times that the two of them went out on the town. While he liked those, he definitely preferred the quiet time they got at Landon's home.

There were even fewer times that he stayed the night there. As of the present day, he only had done so three times. Part of that was Chris' desire to keep things fresh and enticing. He knew that if he slept at Landon's apartment every time they went there, he wouldn't feel that good anxiousness in the pit of his stomach as they went to sleep… knew that he wouldn't enjoy it as much, and that he wouldn't anticipate staying over as happily.

But as he waited for Landon to pick him up, the logical part of him told him that he really needed to not be quite so excited about it. After all, it wasn't like this wasn't going to happen again. He ignored that part of him as best he could, because it felt almost as if he were trying to sabotage his own happiness by thinking like that.

All of these thoughts flew out the window once he heard Landon's car pull up to the front of the house. He hadn't told his parents that he was going over to his house, nor had he told his sister. The only person who would know—but who didn't even—was Wyatt, and with any luck, it would stay that way. Chris had been sneaky thus far in keeping everything under wraps, but in honest truth, he was getting a little tired of it all. Things with Landon seemed serious…he needed to get over this hump and tell them, he told himself.

_Eh_, he thought, _I'll deal with it later_.

A honk came from outside, and Chris picked up his bag that had a change of clothes, a toothbrush and some other things in it, to take along with him. Soon he was out the door and into the sunlight, and he squinted his eyes despite wearing sunglasses, so as to protect himself further.

He climbed into Landon's car and was about to greet him with a kiss when he noticed something strange.

"…Where'd your goatee go?"

Landon paused, blinking. "Oh! Yeah, shaved it off. This crazy weather was making me break out around my mouth, so I got rid of it. Last thing I need is an ingrown hair or something around there…"

The two of them shared a kiss, after which Landon lifted his foot off the brake and drove them back to his place. The ride there only took a couple of minutes, just long enough to get out of the residential suburb and into the more densely populated streets with apartment and commercial buildings. His complex was along one of the slightly less busy streets, and he pulled up into the driveway that would lead to the parking lot down below it, sliding a card through an electronic device that opened the gate.

Landon drove them down into the lot, taking a right and curving around a corner, right into a parking space. Chris almost felt like the car was going to tip over, but thankfully, it didn't. It always felt like that, and every time, he still thought the same exact thing. He doubted that he would ever get used to it.

Once they got out of the car, they headed over to the elevator that led up into the apartment complex itself. Landon's place was on the fifth floor, with a relatively decent view of the surroundings. And since his apartment was somewhat on the higher end, there was air conditioning throughout its hallways and inside his place itself.

Chris headed right for Landon's comfortable La-Z-Boy Courtney style sofa, sprawling over its nice, cool surface much like a cat would. Because it wasn't made of leather, it wasn't _too_ cool, nor would it get slippery if he lay on it for too long. He let out a content sigh.

"You gonna lie on the couch all day long?" Landon asked with a chuckle as he set Chris' bag on the floor beside his kitchen counter. "I didn't bring you over here just for that, you know."

"No," the young witch replied, "but…can't I enjoy it for just a little while?" He smiled.

"Yeah, yeah…"

It was only mid-afternoon, but neither Chris nor Landon had any desire whatsoever to go out. The heat was too much, for one thing, and for another, this was one of the special days they set aside specifically so that they could spend it indoors, together. They had both already eaten lunch, and so they got comfortable on the couch, flipped on the television, and picked a movie that they wanted to watch.

About twenty minutes into the movie, Chris' phone—which he put on vibrate mode—began to move around vigorously in his pocket. He shifted for a moment so as to pull it out, and when he did, he wrinkled up his nose. It was his sister. She was probably calling about something that she couldn't find, or that he hadn't done before leaving the house. She had changed her mind and told him she wasn't going to do any of the things they had agreed upon until _after_ she got home from work that night, so it couldn't have had anything to do with that.

"What's up?" Landon asked, looking down at Chris, who was slipping his phone back into his pocket.

His phone vibrated again to let him know that he had a new voicemail. "Nothing, just a phone call. Nothing big."

Landon shrugged, lifting his arm back up so that he could wrap it around the dark haired witch's shoulders and bring him closer. Chris shifted down a little and came to rest against his chest, where he could feel the beating of his boyfriend's heart.

They went uninterrupted for a few more minutes, but suddenly his phone was ringing again, and now it was from the house line. Given the time, it was probably from his dad or mom, wanting him to pick something up for whenever he was coming home. Irritated, he put the phone back into his pocket with a faint growl.

"Another call?" Landon asked. There was light exasperation in his voice.

"Yes," Chris grumbled.

But now that he had ignored a second call from his family, his nervous instincts began to kick in. Maybe something was wrong. He reasoned, however, that if there were, that they would have called for him through his whitelighter powers. The phone was for mundane things, non-magically related. That was the agreement that they had made, wasn't it? That was what he remembered. It kept their worry level down.

Keeping that logic in mind, he threw his phone over to the other side of the couch, where it would be neither felt nor heard. He curled back up with Landon and focused on the movie at hand.

Or tried to, anyways. It wasn't but another few minutes later when he heard that familiar, ethereal calling of his name in his head, from a voice that he clearly recognized as his sister's. She sounded irate, exasperated…

With a light grunt, Chris pulled up and away from Landon, who looked at him weirdly.

"What's wrong?" Landon asked.

"I need to go to the bathroom," Chris lied. Unfortunately, this wasn't the first time this sort of situation had risen, and it was likely not the last. Before he headed to the bathroom he grabbed his phone, intent on sending his sister a text message telling her to leave him be for the moment.

Shutting the door behind him, he moved further into the small bathroom and flipped open his phone, mouthing and whispering the words to himself as he typed them. "I'm…busy…so…leave…me…alone…"

He pressed the send button and closed his phone, intentionally leaving it on the counter. The second he did that, however, he felt guilty. She wouldn't have called him that way if it hadn't been important. And maybe it had been her who had called using the house line, thinking that he would pick it up then. What if something was wrong? What if she needed him to help her with something?

But Landon…he couldn't just up and leave him like this. He had done that before, and he regretted it. Plus, if something was wrong and he orbed out of the bathroom, who knew how long he would be gone? There was only so long someone could stay in the bathroom before it was weird, uncomfortable or worrisome.

He didn't know what he was going to do. Chris put his hand on the knob, but he looked over his shoulder at the phone resting on the counter. Mel hadn't responded yet, either through mental calling or by text message. If it were urgent, she would have made some other kind of effort. He should have listened to her message…

All of the sudden, Chris felt rather lightheaded. He gripped the bathroom doorknob, thinking of Landon, but also of his sister, and how she likely needed him…

In the blink of an eye, the lightheaded haze in his head became thicker, and everything descended into black. When it all came into focus again, he was standing in the attic of the manor, staring at the back of his sister's head.

"God damn it—_Chris_." He could hear the frantic clicking of the buttons on her phone. She must have been sending him a text message.

"What?" he asked.

Mel jumped and gave a somewhat surprised shriek at the sound of her brother's voice. She turned around quickly. "What the hell, when did you get here?"

"I…dunno," Chris replied warily. He looked around. "The last thing I remember, I was at—" but he paused. Where could he lie and say he was?

"_Where_?" Mel demanded. "I've tried calling you twice. _Three_ times, if you count shouting your name. What the hell was so important that you'd ignore me? _Especially_ if I call you magically?"

Whether it was simply the fact that he was tired of her constantly harassing him, or that he was just tired of having to lie about it, Chris threw his hands up in the air. He was fed up with it.

"Fine. You really want to know what's so important? Okay. It's my boyfriend."

At first, Mel didn't seem to know how to respond. Then she snorted. There was a look of disbelief on her face. "That's the worst joke ever, Chris, seriously."

His expression was as stern as ever. "I'm not joking."

"…Oh." Piper's youngest blinked, it slowly dawning upon her. She made a face, moved over toward him, and promptly smacked him on the arm. "What the _hell_, Chris, why wouldn't you _tell_ me something like that?"

"Because I just didn't, okay?" he erupted. Being hit hadn't made it any better. "It's not a big deal. I'm still me, la de da! Still the same uptight, neurotic _freak_ of an older brother! I just like boys!"

Mel's expression quickly changed into one of slight confusion, mixed with a bit of concern. "Uh…yeah, that's great and all. I couldn't care less, really." She now seemed even slightly offended, although it faded into a look of musing. "I mean, I always suspected it, but—"

"_What_?"

"I always kind of suspected it," she repeated, and without any kind of malice. "You…I dunno, you were just…different. It's hard to explain." When she saw Chris' crestfallen face, she smiled softly, almost ruefully, rubbing his arm. "But I just figured you'd tell me when you were ready. You didn't have to _yell_ at me about it, though."

"Well, I—" Chris had no reasonable response for that, however. Mel looked kind of hurt, and that made things a whole lot worse than he wanted them to be. Softening his tone, he said, "Look. It's…complicated. Okay?" He wanted so badly for it to just drop right then and there. "What was so important that you needed to talk to me, anyways?"

"Work called me and said I didn't have to come in today," Mel explained.

What she said sort of went in one ear and out the other. Chris felt lightheaded again, and before he knew it, he was blacking out once more. When he awoke, he was back in Landon's apartment, in the bathroom, but he was sitting up, cradled in the older man's arms.

"Oh, Thank _God_," Landon said, letting out a relieved laugh. "You worried the crap out of me. I thought you'd passed out."

Chris was confused. "Passed out? What…?"

"I dunno," he replied. "I just…I heard this thud in the bathroom a minute ago and I came in here, and you were lying on the floor. I thought something happened to you. I was just about to call 911."

The witch's heart sank. _Thankfully you didn't_, he thought. Chris reached up and rubbed his eyes. "No, I'm totally fine. I just got a little lightheaded, is all. I think it was from lying the way I was."

Landon was about to say something else when he was interrupted by the clattering vibration of the phone on the counter. Chris' gaze immediately shot upward.

It had to be his sister.

"Could you—" he began to ask.

"Yeah, yeah, sure."

Landon grabbed the phone and extended it to Chris, who picked it up and flipped it open. Before Mel could say anything, he said, "I can't talk right now." There was a barrage of words from the other line, all of which sounded confused, but he cut her off with another insistent, "I _can't_ _talk_ right now." After that, he hung up. Landon gave him a weird look again, but Chris just laughed.

"I think my sister got into my parents' alcohol," he said. "She's been acting weird _all_ day. I swear."

Unfortunately, there was something in the way that Landon was staring at him that made Chris think he didn't entirely believe what he said.

"If you say so…"

Landon helped Chris to his feet, after which Chris gave him a long, thankful kiss. That seemed to appease him just fine.

"I'll be out in a minute, though. I never did go pee like I needed to."

Once left alone, the young witch grabbed his phone and sent his sister a text message that read, "I'll call later tonight". Landon always took a long shower before he went to bed, and now that the heat had become so powerful, he was sure that he would tonight. Until then, in order to keep things from seeming too weird, he had to pretend like nothing was up.

Only something _was_ up. He had passed out in one place and awoke in another, and he had come out to his sister. There were so many loose threads that he needed to tie up, and he wasn't even sure that he had the power to do it all. Fighting demons he could do. Dealing with family and relationship pressures, he really couldn't.

But he was going to have to learn, or else everything was going to come unglued.


	11. An Upgrade

Author's Notes: All right. I'm feeling better and a little more inclined to write, which is always a big plus! I'm a few chapters ahead of what I've posted right now, just to keep myself ahead of the game. I'm really not sure how long the story's going to go...I'm winding it up and with any hope, it'll end as great as the prequel to this story did. Here's chapter eleven! Enjoy :D And don't forget to review, like always!

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It seemed like forever before Landon finally gave Chris a kiss and left him alone in the bedroom while he went into the bathroom to take his nightly shower. And because the two of them had just spent the last hour or so being intimate, he knew that Landon would take a longer one. That would give him enough time to call Mel and let her know what was going on. Or try to, anyways. She hadn't seemed very happy about the fact that he had so bluntly denied her the chance to speak to him earlier.

Once he heard the door shut and the water turn on, Chris called for his phone, which he left in the living room. It appeared in his hands as a flurry of white-blue orbs at first before materializing solidly. He flipped it open. There was a text message from Mel, but he ignored it, since he was going to call her.

He dialed her cell number and lifted the phone to his ear, waiting for her to pick it up. When she did, she didn't sound happy, and Chris honestly couldn't blame her.

"He's in the shower," he mentioned, figuring she would want to know where Landon was.

"I don't even know who _he_ is," Mel replied. "What's his name?"

"Landon."

"Huh. Not bad." For some reason, that odd phrase of approval made Chris snort faintly. She continued, "But whatever. Why the hell did you wait so long to call me?"

"We were busy," was all Chris said at first. But when he knew how she would interpret that, he added hastily, "Watched a movie and had some dinner."

"Mm-hmm." He could tell she was running her tongue over her teeth. She always did that when she said 'Mm-hmm'. It was her way of stalling for when she didn't know quite what to say. "Okay, well, how much time do you have to talk? Because this is important."

"I don't know for sure. Twenty, maybe thirty minutes. What's up?"

"I don't really want to talk about it over the phone." Her voice was a little short. Why the sudden change in the way they were talking, he wondered. "Can you come back home?"

"No," Chris replied almost immediately.

Obviously, Mel hadn't expected that answer. There was a pause over the line before she said, "O-kay. Well, then I guess I'll just talk to you tomorrow. See you whenever you get home."

Here came the guilt. Ah, what a joyous feeling that was. So gut-wrenchingly joyous. "Okay."

"Have fun tonight then. Night."

"Night."

Chris hung up the phone with an irritable sigh. What ever happened to family first, he asked himself. He seemed to waffle back and forth on that mantra lately, choosing them and then choosing Landon, choosing them again and then choosing Landon. He really couldn't keep doing it, he told himself. At this rate, things were going to fall apart. The duties tied to his destiny required him to put family first, but he was happy with Landon—happier than he had been in a really long time.

He couldn't live a double life. And what's more, that wasn't what he _wanted_ to do. If he didn't come up with some way of making things work better…well, he didn't want to think about what would happen. It made him anxious.

This was likely a situation that his mom and dad could help him with.

Too bad they didn't know he was even in a predicament.

Chris rolled over on the soft cotton comforter atop Landon's bed, looking out the door and just down the hall. He saw the light that rimmed the underside of the bathroom, and it made him sigh again, but in a more resigned way this time around.

Wyatt knew. Mel knew. Maybe it was finally time his parents did.

. . .

When Chris got home early that following morning, he didn't really know who to talk to first. His parents were probably going to ask where he had been, and he didn't think that he wanted to get into that right away. It had been hard enough trying to go to sleep with that anxiety hanging over him. Now that he was awake, he thought it might eat him alive. Telling them about Landon—and consequently himself—seemed so daunting that he also thought if it didn't eat him, it would eventually crush him.

No, first he needed to talk to Mel. He needed to figure out whatever it was that she was so concerned about, and they would discuss it. Then after that, they needed to figure out what the hell had happened to him, and why he had passed out the way he had.

Although he had a pretty good idea about that one in particular…

"Mel?" he called out tentatively, placing his bag on the ground beside the front doors. When no response came he traveled further into the manor. He knew that it was a little early for everyone to be up and running—somewhere around 8:30—but usually _someone_ was up.

But that was when it dawned on him that that someone was usually _him_, and it was either his mom or dad who came and found _him_ in the kitchen, in the living room, in the sitting room…He was always the first one up and the last one down, something that he had been doing for years without really noticing it. So, of course nobody was going to respond to his calls.

Chris moved back to the foyer to grab his bag and was about to make his way up the stairs to his room when he heard the shuffling of feet coming from the kitchen into the dining room. He paused, one foot on the landing.

He was surprised to see that it was his dad, dressed in some shorts and a white t-shirt. He was barefoot.

"Dad?" Chris said, somewhat confused. "What're you doing up so early?"

Leo, who was holding a glass and a rag in his hand, smiled, moving closer. "Well, it was a nice morning, and I figured that I'd come down and enjoy the beautiful weather a bit before I got started on my to-do list. I want to get as much done before the heat becomes too much. Doesn't give me a long time, but I'll get done what I can." Chris nodded to this. And really, he knew he should have made a move to go upstairs, just so that he could avoid the question that followed. But he didn't.

"Where were you last night?"

It was just his luck that he would run into one of his parents first. Even still, he was intent on not talking about his situation without both of them there. It wouldn't make things any easier on him to have to say it twice. And he always confided more in his mother…to tell his father first would almost seem like a betrayal to him, and surely to his mother.

This was all just too much thinking this early in the morning, even for him.

"Out," Chris said, and with a light tone that he hoped wouldn't lead Leo to asking further questions. Thankfully, he didn't.

"Ah. Well, your sister wanted me to tell you that she needed to talk to you. She's still asleep, probably, but she went to bed early last night, so you could probably wake her up if you want."

"Where's Mom?" Chris asked suddenly.

"She's still upstairs, sleeping."

"Oh. Okay." It was now or never. He needed to do this while he still had the guts to. He looked at his dad then, feelings wobbling in such a way that it almost caused what he said next to do much the same. "I need to talk to you and her later."

There was sudden concern on Leo's face. "Something wrong?"

"Not exactly," Chris was careful to say. He turned his attention to the top of the landing, where the stairs turned. "It's just something I need to talk to you both about. Don't worry about it." He forced a smile, which seemed to fit oddly comfortably on his face. He was thankful for that. It even seemed to disarm his father, which made things better. Things fell into a natural silence then, a breaking off point, and Chris took full advantage of it by heading up the stairs and toward his room so that he could drop his stuff off.

Once his things were in his room, the dark haired witch wandered down the hallway that led to his sister's room. He paused, noticing that the door was shut. Would knocking really be the best thing to do? Or even of more concern, was it best to wake her up so early? Mel was always a monster in the mornings, and he doubted that she would be any better after what happened the night before.

If he was going to have any peace at all that day, though, he needed to do this. He raised his knuckles, preparing to knock on the solid wooden door, but just as they were about to come in contact with it, something stopped him. Now frustrated with himself, Chris brought the hand to his hand and palmed the left side of it, grunting quietly. This wasn't going to work. He should have just spoken with her last night.

_Why_ was he having such a hard time with all of this? It didn't make any sense. He was such a forward person by nature, so this should have come easily to him…

He turned around in preparation to go back to his room, but was stopped by the sound of movement inside his sister's room. Before he had time to move back and retreat, the door creaked open, and from behind it appeared the figure of his sister, who was also palming the side of her face. Mel hadn't been expecting to see Chris there, as was obvious by the way she started, along with the quiet gasp that escaped her.

"_Don't_ do that," she whispered, seemingly unable to catch her breath enough to speak louder.

"Sorry," Chris apologized. "I was just coming to see if you were awake."

Mel yawned. "Well, I am now. I didn't plan on it, but I woke up from a dream and really had to pee, so if you'll excuse me." She pushed past him and headed right for the bathroom just a few feet away, shutting the door behind her. Chris heard the lock click.

"Oh come on, like I'm going to come in there," he said with a bit of contempt in his voice.

No response came from the bathroom. All he heard was awkward silence during which his sister relieved herself. After he heard the toilet flush and the water start running in the sink, he moved closer to the door, waiting for her to come out. Mel seemed to be taking her sweet time, however. It wasn't until a minute or two later that she finally emerged, looking about the same as when she went in.

"What?" she asked, somewhat irritably.

Chris didn't appreciate her tone of voice, but for once he thought that he probably shouldn't bite back. "I thought we could talk about last night."

There was a pause in which Mel leaned against the doorframe, scratching the back of her head. "Can I at least have breakfast first?"

Now she was just making this difficult. "Fine," Chris said with as noncommittal of a shrug as he could manage. He didn't want her to see that he was itching for this. The last thing he needed was for her to torture him just because he hadn't wanted to talk the night before. Mel was a very volatile person at times, and at the moment, she was proving to be even more so than usual.

He watched Mel drag herself down the stairs until she disappeared from sight. The last thing he wanted to do at that moment was follow her, because she had managed to press all of his buttons in such a short period of time that he thought he might burst. And what was worse, she probably knew it. They knew each other well enough that even if he hid it, she would still understand.

For some reason, that really bothered him right then and there.

Instead of giving in to the irritable feeling, he decided that he was going to confirm his suspicions in regards to what happened to him. It seemed like a much better thing to focus on at the moment. Chris made his way up the other set of stairs—the ones leading to the attic—and pushed the door open atop the landing so that he could go inside. Because the attic was the highest level in the house, it was warmer up there than throughout the rest of the manor, but the fact that he was wearing shorts, a t-shirt and sandals made it easier to deal with. The height, however, made the house perfectly level with the sun's rays, and he had to squint his eyes to prevent himself from going blind from the light that poured in through the stained glass windows.

He used his telekinesis as a means of closing the curtains that they had put up some years ago, and suddenly everything was much more bearable. Chris moved over to the _Book of Shadows_, flipping it open like he would any other time. He had read through it so many times in his life that he knew its contents by heart. All that had to do with power upgrades and powers in general was toward the back, which he managed to find in just a few moments' time.

"Telekinesis…freezing time…glamouring…"

None of it had to do with what he wanted right then and there. But then the familiar script appeared as he flipped the page, and he read aloud:

"Astral Projection."


	12. What are Siblings for?

Author's Notes: sorry this took so long to get up. I've been busy as heck lately, and it doesn't help any that I work until about 10 at night nowadays. But, I'm still writing, and I'm nearing the end of the story. Not with this chapter! No worries, haha. There's a good few left to go, so keep on enjoying! Thanks for reviewing :)

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It was the only thing that made sense. Astral Projection was a natural progression of his power—or at least in the family line, the natural progression of the individuals who had telekinetic powers. He remembered that his Aunt Paige had developed the ability some years ago, back when she had been under some heavy stress as a whitelighter. And before her was his Aunt Prue, to whom many in his family compared him.

He was surprised, really, that Wyatt hadn't developed the ability to astral project, but he figured that was because his brother had so many other active powers that he probably didn't need it.

Chris quickly tucked away a sudden pang of jealousy that he felt. Wyatt had only made show of his powers as a kid. Now that they were adults, he used them responsibly, never trying to outdo his brother in any way, shape, or form. They were equals, even when at times, Chris thought they couldn't have been less. He appreciated that, but it didn't stop the inferiority complex he suffered from occasionally.

Why had he developed this power _now_, though, of all times? He'd had his powers for nearly twenty years, and in all of that time, he had never once developed anything beyond his hybrid witch and whitelighter abilities. Granted, those had grown immeasurably in strength, but nothing quite like this had happened.

He shook his head and looked back down at the page. Beneath the elegantly written cursive script letters of 'Astral Projection' was something else. He read aloud:

"Astral Projection is the ability to project another form of oneself onto a different plane, either physical or mental. In the family line, it is generally expressed through projection of an astral form onto the physical plane. This power often surfaces and manifests from an intense, nearly desperate need to be in two locations at once."

Chris took in a slow breath. That certainly would have explained his situation the day before, when he happened to 'pass out' and magically reappear at the manor. Part of him wondered why such a power would manifest when he just as easily could have orbed himself out of there. But as his eyes drifted over that last part once again, it became clear.

He read out loud once more, though quieter this time: "This power often surfaces and manifests from an intense, nearly desperate need to be in two locations at once."

His desire to stay with Landon, but his need to come home and help his family. It made sense. And in a strange way, this almost seemed to him like some kind of in to discuss his relationship (and Landon) with his family. With evidence of a power surfacing, they would have no reason to doubt that what he felt was real. Still, that scared him a little. Chris had never really dated anyone, and his family had never really questioned it. They knew he was a busy person and that he spent a lot of his time fighting evil, studying for classes or being out with friends. Of course, Wyatt and Mel both did all of that, but they also had people in and out of their lives every now and then. He was the only one that didn't—or _hadn't_, up until this point.

More time must have passed than he thought, because soon after he moved to close the _Book_, Chris heard Mel's voice calling to him from the middle level of the house. He called back to her, letting her know that he was in the attic. She didn't say anything in response, but he could hear her making her way up the stairs. And sure enough, just a few moments later, she was stepping into the attic with a bowl of cereal in her hands.

"Sit," she told him, pointing to the nearby sofa resting against the wall.

"I'm not your dog," Chris said, but he did what he was told nonetheless. The _Book_ was still open.

He was about to say something else when Mel, who had just finished a bite of cereal, said:

"Listen. I know you probably think I'm gonna think you're a freak or something for liking boys, but it's like I told you before. I kinda expected it. Ah-ah! Don't you say a word"—she pointed at him—"I'm not done yet. Anyways, it's not that big of a deal, and I mean that. But you really could have just told me. Honest to God, it's not like I would have flipped out about it. What pissed me off was that you basically shrugged me off when you were with him. I thought your motto was family first?"

She finally paused in a way that seemed to insinuate that he could speak, and Chris took advantage of it by saying, "You're right, family first _is_ my motto. But I've been struggling with juggling all this for the last two months. It's—"

"_Two months_?"

"Yes," Chris said, not willing to remove the flatness of his tone. He didn't like being interrupted. "It's not a big deal. I've been doing just fine with all of this more or less, but you caught me in the middle of my time with him. That's _Landon's_ time."

"That's great and all, but what about all of the times you bugged _me_ about something magical when I was with one of _my _boyfriends?"

"That was only when Wyatt and I couldn't handle it on our own and needed your powers. And that was only once or twice in what, like five _years_? We did what Mom asked and we never bothered you unless it was _absolutely_ necessary. Especially since she didn't want you getting too involved with demon fighting until _after_ you got out of school."

Mel had to finish her spoonful of cereal before she could speak again. There was something in her eyes that told Chris the subject was changing. And he was right. "So, two months. When did you guys get together? That'd be…like, what, the beginning of June, end of May?"

"Thereabouts," Chris said. "You remember the Anti-Inhibition spell Lilandra cast?"

Piper's youngest rolled her eyes. "How could I forget?"

"It happened right after that. I went to some club and danced and just…let all of my worries go. Not that I had much of a choice, but, we met up there, and we were having fun when Wyatt came and told me you'd been kidnapped. That knocked me out of the spell, and…well, Landon gave me a business card of his and I ended up calling him back, because I didn't want to let that go."

"That's…surprisingly cute." Mel snorted, but Chris could see she was hiding a small grin behind her cereal bowl. "Little Chrissy's got himself a boyfriend. Gah. What's he look like?"

This wasn't happening, Chris thought to himself. He wasn't talking to his sister about his boyfriend…and he most certainly wasn't showing her the pictures he had of Landon in his phone. But he had it out before he was even aware of it, and she grabbed it from him, prompting him to grunt.

"Hey, give that—"

"Ah-ah, stop it! I'm not gonna do anything, I'm just looking at your pictures. Don't worry."

Chris remained for a few moments in an odd half-standing, half-crouching and sitting position with one of his hands extended outward. When he finally sat down again Mel handed him his phone back, cooing appreciatively.

"He's cute, Chris."

Not knowing what else to say, the dark haired witch said, "Thanks."

Silence followed them, during which Mel ate her cereal and Chris stared at everywhere but her as a means of keeping that heavy beating of his heart from getting faster. One would think that after many years of chasing demons that his adrenaline wouldn't get worked up so easily, but this morning proved to be completely the opposite.

Not able to bear the silence any longer, Chris finally cleared his throat, swallowing his apparent fear and looking at his sister. "So, what did you need to talk about?"

Mel appeared to be much more complacent than before. He didn't know if this had to do with her having eaten, or with them having talked about everything. She didn't bite, however, on his subject change. "It's important, but we can talk about it later. Have you told Mom or Dad yet?"

Her words hit him like a ton of bricks in the groin. Chris shook his head, then made a face. "No. I haven't. I was gonna try and do it today, but I dunno."

"Oh come on," Mel said. "You _really_ think Mom and Dad are going to freak out about this? It's 2025, Chris. Gay people are pretty common here and now, especially in San Francisco. Hell, sometimes I think we straight people are becoming a minority here."

Her comment alleviated some of the pressure of the subject, although Chris didn't know why, because part of him also found it kind of offensive. Still, he chuckled, but a little uneasily. "I just…"

"What?" Mel's voice softened.

"I don't know. I'm scared."

"Don't be."

The longhaired witch moved and took a seat on the sofa beside her brother, reaching out and patting his knee with her free hand. She looked at him seriously. "Mom and Dad aren't gonna kill you for this." A considering look took over her face. "Wyatt might, but—"

"Wyatt already knows," Chris informed her.

"Wait, _what?_ Wyatt already knows?"

"Yeah. He…uh. He was the one who caught me and Landon making out at the club."

"Ew, making out? Chris! I don't want to picture that."

"What?" Chris said almost incredulously. "You just said it didn't bother you!"

"You're still my brother," Mel said, and with a fake gag. "I don't want to picture you _or_ Wyatt making out with anyone. That's sick."

"Well, the feeling's mutual."

"_Anyway_. So Wyatt knows. And he didn't kill you. _I_ know now, and I didn't kill you. I'm gonna guess your chances with Mom and Dad are going to be pretty positive." She patted his leg once again, pausing. "Did you…want me to be there? Or Wyatt? Both of us?"

"No."

Even though Chris politely refused her offer, part of him thought _yes, yes I want you to be there_. But he knew that this was something he needed to tell his parents on his own. Why, he wasn't sure. It just felt that way. If there was one thing that he had learned, it was to trust his instincts. They had only led him down the wrong path once or twice in his entire life. With something as big as this, he couldn't afford not to listen to them.

"Thank you, though," he added genuinely.

"Of course." Mel smiled again, faintly this time. "What're siblings for?" Then she laughed. "God, I can't believe you finally have someone. I wondered how long it was gonna take for you to find somebody who could put up with you."

Chris' face fell. "_Mel_," he began to say, only to be cut off by her. "I was kidding," she said. "_Kidding_. Anybody would be lucky to have you."

That made him smile. "Thanks."

As another silence slipped in between them, Mel's eyes drifted around the attic and she found the _Book of Shadows_ open on its stand. She gestured to it with a nod of her head. "What were you looking at in there?"

"Power upgrades," the older one replied. "I…think what happened yesterday was a power upgrade."

"Well, duh, I could have told you that," Mel snorted. "I looked it up after you disappeared. When it wasn't all orb-y, I worried, so I checked it out and what came up was Astral Projection. That was one of the things I wanted to talk to you about. When the hell did you get that power?"

"I'm gonna guess yesterday. It said I had to be desperately in need of being in two places at once, and at that moment, I think my head and heart conflicted, which caused it to happen."

"You've just got a bunch of crap going on, don't you? Poor guy." Chris just nodded. "I hate to make it worse, but…the stuff I found out in doing the card readings and everything didn't point to anything good. All signs were pointing to major evilness. That was the other thing I needed to tell you."

"Well, _that's_ comforting," Chris replied wryly. The last thing he needed—that _any_ of them needed, really—was for some up and coming demon to try and destroy them the way Lilandra had tried. Just thinking about her sent a shiver up his spine. "Did any signs point to Lilandra?"

"None that I could read," Mel confessed. "I tried doing something specifically for her, but I didn't find anything." She sighed worriedly. "I have a bad feeling about all of this."

"Me, too." Where was Wyatt when they needed him, Chris thought? It just felt wrong not having him there to talk about this stuff with. He made a face again. "We'll have to let Wyatt know. He's coming over later today so we can go out and grill some demons for information."

"Are you sure you should do that today? Given…all the stuff you've got going on? I mean, what happens if your power activates when you don't want it to? You should fix that first. And do you still want to tell Mom and Dad today?"

Mel raised some good questions, none of which Chris was sure he knew the answer to. It seemed like the sensible thing to do would be to deal with each issue one at a time, but he didn't really know how to do that. He was always ninety miles a minute, doing several things at once, and that was generally how he liked it. Though in this case, it was likely best that he approach each individual situation uniquely, so as to not screw them up. They all would require a lot of work.

He sighed. "Maybe I should tell him we need to do it some other time."

"That may be a good idea. Or putting off telling Mom and Dad. Do you think you can do that?"

"No," Chris stated honestly. He still felt the adrenaline pumping through his system, causing his body to shake inside. He hated that still. "It's been two months. Either I do it now, or I do it never, and that's just gonna cause _so _many more problems."

"Well, remember what I told you. They aren't gonna kill you for it. Mom and Dad are really understanding. Remember when Wyatt was dating that crazy girl who smoked like a chimney?"

"Oh God, yes. She stunk up the manor for days. Mom and Dad _hated_ her."

"They still loved Wyatt, though."

"Yeah. He was dating a _girl_."

"Girl, schmirl," Mel said with a shrug. "Like I said. It's 2025. Be gay, and love it. Embrace it. Do whatever the hell you want with it. You're our family. We love you." On that note, she got up and stretched, then headed toward the door. She turned around and gave him a smirk, which made him laugh.

As he watched his sister disappear down the small hallway, Chris knew she was right. He was worrying about nothing. But could he be blamed for it? This sort of thing was difficult, and neither Wyatt nor Mel would ever have to go through with it. Knowing he had their support, however, was going to make a lot of difference in when he spoke to them about it.

The question was, just when today _was_ he going to speak to them about it?


	13. Chris Tries to Share

Author's Notes: I just finished chapter seventeen of the story, so I'm able to post a bit more here. :D I know things are getting kind of anxious with all that's going on, but what fun would it be if I didn't put Chris through hell and back? I'm sadistic, I know. OH well. haha! Please review!

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Chris felt like he was walking around on eggshells throughout the rest of the day. He was sitting in the living room, watching TV, when he heard Wyatt arrive.

It was just past six in the evening and Piper's eldest came through the front door, grumbling about something. Chris couldn't hear what it was, and when he saw his brother step past the archway between the foyer and the living room, he called for his attention. Wyatt turned around, stepping through it and continuing his grumbling.

"It's too damn hot out there," he muttered. "Even with the A/C in my car, I'm still feeling it. I can't wait to fix this freaking problem. I got sunburned the other day on my way to work. It got worse about two minutes ago."

Chris turned the TV off and looked over at his brother. "Wyatt, you get sunburned like, all the time."

"_Whatever_ the case," the older one said, "I'm gonna grab something to eat, and then you and me are going out and finding ourselves some demons to interrogate." He made a move to pull away and head into the kitchen, but Chris let out a half-startled, guttural sound, which caught his brother's attention.

"Can we talk?" His tone was tentative, which was awkward for Chris.

Wyatt's red face contorted very carefully. He walked over to his brother, taking a seat beside him on the couch. "What's wrong?"

The dark haired witch carefully glanced around them, eying the foyer, sitting room, conservatory, and what he could of the dining room. Last he remembered, his mom had gone upstairs and he knew his dad was outside in the garage. Mel had just gone out with a friend of hers. With the coast clear, he returned his attention to his brother.

"So…Mel knows now."

At first, Wyatt's expression was hard to read. His lips pursed in a way that made his small mouth appear even smaller. Then, after a moment he said, "You told her?"

"I…kind of blew up at her about it," Chris confessed.

"What do you mean, you blew at her?"

"I don't…well." Chris paused, wanting this to come out the best way possible. "I didn't really _blow up_, so to speak. There wasn't any yelling. Or much, anyways. But she kept calling when I was at Landon's place, and I was getting mad at her because she was just…relentless about it. So I finally told her about him and then that was that." Not that that was entirely true, he thought, but that would come with more explanation. "I called her later that night so we could talk, but she said she didn't want to do it over the phone."

Wyatt looked at him, intrigued. "Okay…"

Chris sighed. "So, after I got home this morning, I tried to talk to her about it and she pretty much ignored me. And this leads me to something else."

"What?"

"I'm pretty positive I got a power upgrade."

"Wait." The blond haired witch lifted up a hand, his fingers close to his eyes, as if he were about to scratch the side of his head. He was clearly caught off guard. "A power upgrade? What? How?"

"When she kept calling, I got worried. She called from her phone _and_ the house phone, _and_ magically, so I thought it was really serious. I went into the bathroom to text her, but the worry got the best of me and…" He shrugged. "Boom. I was suddenly in the manor."

"You sure you didn't orb?"

"Yeah, I know I didn't. Everything went black first, kind of like I passed out. I'm pretty sure I astral projected myself to the manor. I woke up in Landon's arms, and he thought for sure that I had passed out." Chris looked across from them again and investigated their surroundings just to make sure nobody had suddenly popped in. Then he continued, "When I got home this morning I tried to talk to her about whatever she wanted to talk about the night before, but she didn't want to. So I went upstairs and verified it in the _Book_. I can't think of anything else it would be."

"Well, we need to make it happen again to make sure," Wyatt explained.

"That's great and all, Wy, but my story doesn't quite stop there." After getting the go-ahead from his brother, Chris went on, "Anyway, we finally started talking more in depth. She wanted to talk about Landon first, so I told her all about him. I…planned on telling Mom and Dad about him today, but now that all of this is going on, I don't know." He stopped his brother from speaking by saying, "And she told me that all signs are pointing to something big and evil happening, but she couldn't confirm that it was Lilandra."

As he mulled it over, Wyatt kept quiet, his gaze losing a specific focus. He stroked his chin and then scratched the back of his neck. "God, I didn't think it was possible for so much to happen in the course of just three days, but…here you are, I guess."

"Yeah."

The blond shook his head. "Do you really think you're ready to talk to Mom and Dad about this?"

"It's like I told Mel. It's now or never." Chris sighed. He still wasn't entirely sure, and he hated that.

"Chris…"

There was something in Wyatt's tone that rang with concern, and Chris appreciated that. But he knew that he had to do this. If he didn't, this whole thing would continue to drag on and on until it eventually drove him nuts.

"I have to, Wyatt."

His brother simply nodded. "If you say so."

. . .

Lilandra stood in front of her rickety table, staring down into the bowl that she had used previously to peer in on Chris' party. Before her she could see the two boys sitting on the couch, both looking deep in thought. She, of course, had been able to hear the entire conversation. It was the whole reason she decided to do what she did next.

"Veris!" she called.

Before her, in a dazzling display of golden flames, appeared Veris. His figure seemed to form straight from the flames, them becoming his robes and his head popping out from beneath their folds. His thick eyebrows lifted, and he bowed briefly.

"How can I help?"

"This heat wave is working well enough," Lilandra began, "but I think I'm done with it for now. So I want you to make things go back to normal, gradually. I want you to throw them off."

"Would you rather I make the weather colder to an extreme?" Veris asked curiously.

"No. Do exactly as I asked you. If you do any different, I'll have you killed." It was as simple as that, really.

"Of course."

"Now be gone."

Veris obeyed Lilandra's command and disappeared much the same way he had first shown up. When she was sure that she was alone again, the scrawny, scraggly haired woman turned back to her bowl, noticing that the image had become hazy and unclear. The magic was fading. She could still, however, make out that neither Chris nor Wyatt was on the couch anymore. They must have gone elsewhere.

She already had Wyatt wrapped around her finger, knowing that he was excited to go out on a date with 'Lily'. He had called her almost immediately after their parting, or what had felt like it. And of course she obliged. How else was her plan supposed to go into effect?

And it seemed that, at least at the moment, nobody was terribly focused on her. They were all far too concerned with their own personal problems to even think about whether or not she was plotting revenge against them. They had clearly caught on by now that the heat wave was demonic, so if it suddenly stopped, she knew it would throw them off of her trail. If it didn't…then she was just going to have to implement her plan faster, and she didn't want to do that right now. She was banking a lot on them reacting the way she was anticipating, but she hoped that what she knew of them would be enough to support her reasoning.

She wrinkled up her nose and folded her arms over her chest. If Chris remained preoccupied with telling his family his dirty little secret, then his fighting skills were bound to be affected. She couldn't very well go straight up there herself and confront them directly, and she refused to allow any other demons into her consort for the time being.

Ah, that was the answer, she thought suddenly, as if a light had been turned on in her head. Lilandra gingerly stepped toward a nearby wooden chair, which creaked despite her light frame. As she closed her eyes, she felt herself becoming more and more focused until eventually, everything seemed to fade away.

. . .

Chris called out his mother's name again. He had already gathered his dad from the garage. All he needed was for her to come downstairs. Piper gave a call to let them know she was on her way, and soon enough, he heard steps coming down the stairs, and his mother's figure came into view.

Without completely realizing why, Chris had asked them into the dining room. It was the place where they made all of their big family announcements. Wyatt's moving out had been the last time they all gathered together there. The tall blond in question was standing in there, too, but a confirming look from his brother sent him into the kitchen, shutting the door behind him.

Piper and Leo took a seat at the head of the long table, just in front of the large window through which light shone somewhat brightly. The stained glass, however, prevented it from being too unbearable.

At first Chris tried to take a seat. But he found that he was fidgeting too much in just a second or two's time, and so he moved to stand instead. He had his back to the conservatory, facing them. It really was now or never.

"Mom, Dad," he began, "I've got something I need to talk to you about."

"All right," Piper said for them, her arms folded in front of her as she stared at her son. Chris could tell she was probing for any kind of sign that would let her know what he was thinking, but he doubted she would find any.

"It's…well." His mouth and throat suddenly felt like dry cotton. Despite rolling his tongue around inside of it and licking his lips, it seemed like he wasn't going to be able to fix the problem. "I don't really know how to say it," he finally confessed. God, he hated being scared. It was the worst feeling.

"It's okay," Leo said, turning briefly to Piper before returning his attention to Chris. "Is it something bad?"

"No," Chris said immediately, but assuredly.

"Okay. Did something happen?"

"Yes."

Piper cleared her throat. "Are _you_ going to move out, too?"

The way she had said it made Chris think that she was daring him to. But since that wasn't the answer, he shook his head. "No. I'm not doing that yet. What it is, is that…see." He paused again. "I just. Well. I'm—"

But before he could finish, behind him shimmered in a group of demons of varying height and weight. There were four in all—two tall men, one ridiculously short, fat one, and a stocky woman whose blond hair was done up in a tight, almost fake-looking bun.

"It's _suicide_ for her to come here!" the tallest man announced.

The woman growled, "I felt her presence, I'm absolutely _sure_ of it!"

At that time, Chris whipped around while his parents hastily got up. He looked back briefly to see what his parents were doing, and when he saw his mom's hands about to move, he said, "No! Get Dad out of here, I'll take care of them."

Chris knew his mother could have easily handled it, but he didn't want to risk it. As his attention went back to the demons he heard the door between the kitchen and the dining room open and close. Wyatt would surely be coming out in a moment, but until then, the dark haired witch was going to get them for what they had done.

"What're you think you're doing in my house?" Chris asked petulantly, throwing his hand up to send the four demons flying through the air of the conservatory while he stepped toward them.

The short man and taller one who didn't speak flew right through the ornately designed windows with a resounding crash, while the woman and other tall man collided with walls nearby. They barely had time to recover from their attack when Chris whipped his hand across him, suspending the white-painted oak bench in the air, dropping it on top of them afterward. Both demons cried out in agony from the pain. One of the legs had pierced the man's chest, which caused him to erupt in a display of brilliantly dazzling flames. He left a scorch mark behind.

Chris heard the sound of his brother coming up behind him right then. He felt Wyatt's presence beside him, and he looked up a little at him.

"Got ourselves some visitors. There's two outside."

"There won't be in a minute."

Chris watched Wyatt step away and toward the shattered collection of glass not too far away. About that time the woman who had been pinned under the bench was lifting it up off herself, and she eyed the dark haired witch darkly.

"You think a bench is really gonna stop me? I'm a lot tougher than that." She scoffed.

"Oh yeah? Well, fight this." Chris lifted his hand and flattened it, palm up, while calling, "_Butcher knife_!" In a mere second a collection of white-blue orbs formed into a butcher knife from the kitchen, which he then gripped and hurled at the stocky framed demonic woman.

But his face fell when he saw her disappear right before his eyes. He barely had time to register the fact that she was gone before he felt an arm wrap around his neck, and something sharp puncturing his back. All at once, it felt as if his lungs were balloons that had been popped, and the air inside was escaping them. He could barely manage an audible gasp at the feeling, going stiff for a moment before becoming limp in her grasp.

Just before Chris collapsed to the ground, he heard the demon murmur, "I'll find you if it's the last thing I do, Lilandra. I swear it."

He was too blinded by the sheer overwhelming sensation of the pain pulsing through his body to have completely caught what she said, but he knew that she had said Lilandra's name. That only made the feeling worse.

"Wyatt," he struggled to say, breath hitching in his throat. He didn't know where the demon had stabbed him, but it felt like it was somewhere in his lower half, because he could feel his heartbeat deep within the pit of his stomach. Each pulse brought more pain, and he clenched his eyes shut, groaning loudly before collapsing onto the floor.

The last thing Chris remembered was the strange way his brother's voice entered his ears—almost as if he were underwater.


	14. A Trip to the Movies

Author's Notes: I wanted to give a big thanks to Jess for such a heartwarming review! I also wanted to thank gabrieldarke and faith bonksie for being so nice as to leave reviews as well. :) It's much appreciated. Here's chapter fourteen! I'm almost finished with the story--it's getting there!!--but it'll take just a little while longer. I'm gonna keep updating when I can, so keep checking back in!

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When Chris awoke, it was to finding himself sprawled out over the length of the couch in the living room. There was soreness in the small of his back. It took him a minute to remember that he had been stabbed by that stupid demon.

"Hey, buddy," Wyatt said once he saw his brother awaken. He reached out and patted Chris' shoulder. "Feeling better?"

"Damn it," was all Chris could manage at that moment. He grunted with effort as he moved to sit up. He noticed his mother sitting there on the coffee table, with his dad standing beside her. They both looked worried, but also relieved, in that 'thank God it wasn't as bad as it could have been' sort of way. "I'm fine," he announced to them.

"We know," Piper said. "But we're your parents. _Kind_ of in the job description to make sure."

Despite himself, the young witch smiled. Leave it to his mother to make a comment like that.

Chris slipped his hand under the hem of his shirt and brushed his fingers gingerly over where the wound had been. "Stupid—" but he caught himself. He didn't curse much, and when he did, it still wasn't really in front of his parents.

"Bitch?" Leo filled in with a chuckle.

"Yeah, that."

"They left us a wonderful mess to clean," Piper announced suddenly, tilting her head briefly backward as a gesture to the conservatory. When Chris looked, he winced a little. Most of that had been him, but he supposed he couldn't be blamed. It happened a lot when fighting demons.

"If it weren't for us, the glass guy would have no business," Wyatt joked.

Even though Chris could tell everything was good to go now, there was still that underlying twisting feeling in his stomach. He had been interrupted in telling his parents about Landon, but now they had something even more important to worry about. All things supernatural came first. He would just have to deal a while longer, he told himself. If it meant saving the lives of innocent people…namely his family…

"Listen," Chris began, which caught the attention of the other three, "the demon said something that I can't shake, because I don't think it's a lie."

"What?" Wyatt asked in concern.

"She said something about Lilandra. The only other thing I got was that she was trying to find her."

Piper, Leo and Wyatt all had the same look on their face at that moment: the trademark Halliwell furrowed brow. When they did it in unison, it almost made Chris laugh... however inappropriate that would have been.

"Guess that answers our question as to who's causing all of this evilness to surface," Wyatt said.

"But why would they be searching for her?" Leo mused aloud. "How did she say it when she said it, Chris?"

Chris scrunched up his face in slight disbelief. "I dunno, Dad, I was kinda busy being stabbed." No response followed, and he rubbed his eyes. "She sounded…determined."

"Like she was out to get her?" Piper inquired.

"Maybe. Although I don't see why."

"Old debts, maybe," Leo suggested with a shrug. "Or maybe they're trying to find her so that _they _can kill her. If she really _is_ back, that is. They said something about feeling her presence. I remember hearing that before we went into the kitchen."

"If she's back, then she's probably going to have a real vengeance." Piper eyed her sons carefully. "Will one of you call your sister and make sure she's okay?"

"She'd call for one of us if she was in danger," Wyatt said, sounding assured.

"Just do it," Piper insisted.

Knowing better than to argue, Wyatt did as he was asked, pulling out his phone to call his sister. After confirming that she was just fine, thank you very much, the four Halliwells continued to mull over the possibilities of what was happening.

"Why couldn't she have just died and made our lives a hell of a lot easier?" Chris murmured irritably.

"Nah, that's too easy." Piper's lips curled into a faint smirk. "Demons love to make our lives a living hell. You can take care of it, though. All of you can. I know it."

Not too far away in the foyer, the phone began to ring.

"That's probably Phoebe," Piper said as she moved to get up. She brushed some of her hair behind her ears. "I told her to call me earlier. Hrm." A sound, seeming somewhat disapproving in nature, escaped her, but she left it at that, moving into the foyer to answer the call.

Chris looked at Wyatt. There were a lot of things he wanted to say at that moment, but the only thing that really felt like the _right_ thing to say was: "Maybe we should get investigating."

His brother could sense his hesitation. "You sure?" Wyatt asked.

"Yeah." He turned his attention to their father. "Was anything left behind by the demons that we can use as a means of identifying them?" Chris moved to stand, with Leo and Wyatt soon following him.

"Not to my knowledge," Leo said. He eyed Wyatt. "Unless they left something outside?"

Wyatt shook his head.

"Looks like we're back to square one," Chris said.

. . .

Lilandra could have slapped herself for thinking and acting so stupidly. Certainly, Chris had been preoccupied with telling his parents about what was going on, but she really should have guessed that he would drop it all in order to fight. She watched in her bowl as the brothers and their parents separated, and with a wave of her hand the foggy mist in the bowl lost its image.

She wouldn't do something stupid like that again, she thought. It was a momentary lapse of judgment; an eagerness that had taken hold of her more than she would have thought possible. From this point forward, she needed to be very careful in her deliberations, making sure that nothing went wrong. They clearly knew about her now, and that was going to put them on her tail.

But if she kept quiet and simply followed the rest of her plan, she was sure that nothing would go wrong. There was no way they would figure out her glamour. They were all far too concerned with other things going on outside of their supernatural duties. And again, she was banking on that…but if there was one thing she could count on, it was human selfishness. Piper's children would ultimately choose themselves in some way or another when it came down to it. All humans did in the end.

It was her hope that Lily could persuade Wyatt in just the right way…

. . .

Throughout the entire week that followed the attack at the manor, Chris, Wyatt and Melinda spent a good chunk of their free time trying to find any and all information regarding Lilandra's whereabouts, her plans, and just anything in relation to her at all. By the end of it, the most they had pulled out from a demon was that there was a group looking for her, but no name or location was given.

With so little to go on, Piper's children had become sufficiently frustrated and irritable. This, of course, leaked into the normal parts of their lives as well. Chris had had to call and cancel on Landon twice because of exhaustion and snappiness, which hadn't boded well at all for the two of them. Melinda had called in sick for two night shifts, during which she had been with her brothers, searching for demons. And Wyatt had needed to cancel a date with Lily, citing that he had come down with a twenty-four hour bug.

It was needless to say that they all felt more than a little angry about the whole situation at hand. But there was nothing they could do without more information on Lilandra, as searching for her directly would take up much more of their time, consequentially wasting it, when they could simply wait for _her_ to attack _them_.

But unfortunately for them, even after the week of investigating and interrogating, nothing happened. And over the course of the following week, nothing happened either. It was as if they had been re-granted their personal lives, having been blessed with demon free days. It put them all on edge and they kept on top security and attention the entire time. It felt like the quiet before a storm…something that both worried and bothered the entire Halliwell clan.

To top it all off, not having told his parents about Landon was eating Chris alive. Later that evening after the attack, Piper and Leo had asked if he wanted to talk about whatever it had been that was bothering him, but he quickly shrugged it off for reasons he hadn't—and still wasn't—entirely sure of. Instead he simply told them about his advancement in power, which, although it _did _concern his parents some, didn't set off any alarms. They seemed proud of him and after, that was the end of it. They didn't even question why it had been so hard to talk about, which made keeping quiet seem like a good idea.

As time passed, he sat on the _real_ reason he had been given the power even longer, despite knowing that it was only going to get worse and worse for him by doing so. He, however, couldn't seem to stop himself. It felt like a _dirty_ secret now instead of just a normal one, and he didn't like that. Still, it didn't prompt him to tell them. If anything, it seemed to hinder him. The fear he felt before had multiplied more and more until it had become almost crippling. At this rate, he would be surprised if it ever came out, period.

When Monday rolled around—his and Landon's day—he told himself with certainty that he wasn't going to allow it to ruin things between them. Landon had been very forgiving throughout all of this…not having the slightest clue about what was truly bothering Chris, but not forcing him to share it. They had been going out for a while now, longer than anyone he had been with before, and things had risen to a level of seriousness that was beginning to worry him, too. Now he was beginning to wonder about whether or not Landon would be able to handle his family secret. There were only so many times the same excuse of a family emergency could be used as a means of hiding the fact that he had to disappear to fight demons or create potions…

Chris wanted badly to believe that he was the one, but secondhand experience had taught him that it wasn't always the first guy. Every one of his aunts and his mother as well had struggled with this. And, Wyatt had never told any of his girlfriends, nor had Melinda told any of her boyfriends. All signs were pointing in a negative direction, and although he could see the truth, Chris was ever the obstinate one, and he didn't want to believe that his situation would be the same.

But he knew nonetheless that it wouldn't be smart to tell Landon about his family before he told his family about _him_. That would be betrayal on so many levels, and not only that, a danger to them all. Because if things _did _pan out in such a way that they were no longer together…then that meant extra work for all of them, trying to figure out how to make him forget without the personal gain consequences.

The dark haired witch stood anxiously outside at the curb beneath the shade of the large tree in front of the manor, waiting for Landon to pull up. They were going to a movie that evening, and he couldn't wait. He thankfully didn't have to stand there for too long, because just a few minutes later, he saw his boyfriend's car pulling up beside him.

He slipped inside and greeted Landon the same way he always did—a kiss, a faint grin and some brief words—before he buckled up.

Landon's hand rested on top of Chris' as they drove to the movie theater down in the middle of town. Parking was easier than expected, but Mondays had never been a busy day for cinemagoers, even during the summer. And since the heat had died down some weeks previous, there was no need to worry about being in the cooler theaters as a means of escape.

The two of them got out of Landon's car and walked, hand in hand, to the ticket stand that stood in front of the large theater. The sun was still in the warm blue sky, which caused the neon lights stationed around the outside of the cinema to lose their appeal. Still, Chris watched as the names of the movies went by on the electric display screen, barely able to make them out because of the glare from the sun.

"Which did you wanna see?" Landon asked, squeezing Chris' hand.

"Mm…" The witch furrowed his brow and squinted his eyes. "How 'bout we see that comedy one about the kid who gets sent back in time to the 70s?" He couldn't see the name very well, but he knew it was playing, having seen a commercial for it on television just the night before.

"Sounds good to me."

Landon gave Chris a quick kiss on the side of his dark hair before gently tugging him toward the ticket box. All was fine and dandy with the witch until he began looking around, his eyes falling on a _very_ familiar figure not too far away from him. He would recognize the tall blond anywhere.

"_Wyatt_?"

Wyatt turned upon hearing his name. But it took him a moment to realize where it had come from, because he had clearly been distracted by the girl that was hanging loosely on his arm. Chris didn't need to be introduced to know who she was—the way Wyatt had described her to him, she looked exactly like he thought Lily would. Her dark auburn hair was shining brilliantly, and he felt something almost similar to jealousy, although he wasn't quite sure why.

There were words shared between Wyatt and Lily before he ushered her over to where Landon and Chris were.

"Dude, Chris, what're you doing here?"

Chris raised an eyebrow incredulously. "Going to a movie, what's it look like, doofus? What're _you _doing here? I thought you hated going to the movies when it was nice out."

"Lily wanted to see that new action and suspense movie that's playing," Wyatt explained. But he said no more on the movie after that, instead gesturing from Chris to Lily as he said, "Lily, this is my brother, Chris. Chris, this is Lily. I was hoping you guys would get to meet soon."

"Nice to meet you," Chris said automatically.

"You, too!" Lily's voice was warm and friendly. He felt himself disarming a little, and almost guilty for having armed himself in the first place.

Seeing as Landon and Wyatt had already met—if at least briefly, all that time ago—Chris didn't really feel the need to reintroduce the two of them. But Landon and Lily had never met before, so when the chance surfaced, he introduced the two of them to each other, hoping it would be left at that. They weren't seeing the same movie.

"I'm gonna get the tickets, babe, I'll be back," Landon announced after a moment of courteous smiling and greeting. He soon became part of the small crowd gathered in a line in front of the ticket box.

Chris watched him go, but turned back to his brother and Lily afterward. Right then, Wyatt announced that he was going to do the same, which left the younger witch alone with his brother's girlfriend. At first he didn't know what to say, but Lily made that easier by commenting:

"You know, your boyfriend is pretty cute."

Despite the initial feeling of flattery that came over him, Chris just chuckled. "Yeah, he is. Thanks. I'd say the same but, well, you know. Yours is my brother." Lily laughed, and he continued, "If I said he was cute, he'd probably expect me to say it all the time."

The two shared some interesting banter back and forth until Wyatt and Landon came back, chatting with one another. Part of Chris didn't like that the two of them were talking, although he knew he had no reason to feel that way. If Landon was going to integrate into his family, there would be a lot better luck if Wyatt approved of him. Their mom and dad held his opinion in very high regard, after all. Thinking about that was the last thing he wanted to do at that moment, though, and he shook the thought from his head, clearing his throat.

"Got some bad news," Landon said to Chris. He held up the tickets. "I dunno how the hell it happened, but the comedy movie's all sold out."

"Are you _kidding_?" Chris asked. "Damn it. I really wanted to see it."

"The _good_ news," Wyatt interjected with a faint grin, "is that the one we wanted to see, isn't. So Landon got you guys tickets for the same show we're going to. So come on, let's get going so we can get some good seats!"

Chris just stood there for a moment while Wyatt and Lily walked off toward the glass doors that led into the movie theater. Landon looked at him, frowning slightly.

"Did you not wanna see it?" he asked.

"No, no," Chris said quickly. "No. I just—well. I guess we can see it another time. This one looked good, too." There was no sense in trying to articulate that he didn't want to see a movie with his brother and his girlfriend, because there wasn't any good reason. It wasn't like Wyatt didn't already _know_ about them…

But part of him couldn't help but feel if they got too close, that Wyatt was going to intervene like he had the last time the three of them had been together.

_It's just a stupid fear_, Chris told himself as he laced his fingers in Landon's, walking with him into the theater.


	15. It's All About Wyatt

Author's Notes: So I've finished the story!! I just finished it as of about twenty minutes ago, actually. So, from now on, I'll be posting a chapter a day until it's done. But I'm not going to tell you how many chapters are left, just because I want to see if y'all can pick it up. ;) As always, I really appreciate the reviews! And I hope you all feel giving enough to write me some more. I love reading them, after all! :D

* * *

"No, no, don't worry about it, Wyatt, let me get the drinks, okay? You paid for the tickets. You guys go get us seats."

Wyatt seemed reluctant to do as Lily asked, but he nonetheless nodded and wandered down the long, open hallway that led to the number of theaters spread out along either side of it. Chris had already planned on buying some things, himself, so that left him and Lily alone again, while his boyfriend followed his brother down the hall.

Lily smiled at him and started moving toward the concession stand, soon after which Chris followed. The line wasn't terribly long, and just a few minutes later the two of them each had a large drink in hand, but while Lily had a tub of popcorn, Chris had a bag of licorice (Landon's favorite candy), and a box of bonbons for himself.

For some reason, movies just weren't as good without his frozen chocolate treats.

On some level, Chris hoped that Wyatt and Landon had chosen different spots to sit in the theater. But unfortunately, he knew better, so it was no surprise to see the two of them sitting with an empty seat beside each of them, somewhere near the middle of the theater. Chris sat down on Landon's left while Lily sat on Wyatt's, which put the two brothers side by side.

Although the four of them were among just a dozen or so people sitting in the theater at that moment, as time passed and the movie's beginning approached, more and more people of varying shapes and sizes began to fill in the seats until there were barely any left. The theater was bustling with noise of all sorts—conversations, laughter, rustling of bags and shoes, and the sound of silencing cellular phones. Right as Chris put his into silent mode, the lights dimmed, and the reel on the movie screen switched gears from advertisements to the previews.

Having never been one to really enjoy action flicks—hell, he lived one, basically—Chris didn't find much stock in the previews that preceded the movie. Wyatt, Landon and Lily, however, all seemed to be quite into them. In fact, Wyatt had even nudged his brother's arm a few times to get him to say something agreeable to what it was they were seeing, and when Chris didn't, he shook his head, as if he couldn't quite believe him. Chris didn't care much, however. With any luck, the movie would have more plot than just crashing cars and hot babes.

But he knew the kinds of movies Wyatt tended towards…

As Chris had suspected, as the movie proceeded, there didn't seem to be any visibly good plot. All there was were women in tight fitting outfits and cars that went really quickly, and guns and violence. Perhaps to keep himself interested, the dark haired witch pointed out all of the flaws in the movie's production to himself: ways things should have blown up, or the inconsistency of scenery—things along those lines.

About halfway through the movie, Chris felt the urge to go to the bathroom, and so he got up to do so. Just as he was about to shut the door to the theater behind him he felt a sudden force from the other side, which made his heart start.

It was Wyatt.

"What're you doing?" Chris asked.

"I need to go to the bathroom."

"At the same time as _me_?"

Wyatt shrugged. "I can't help when my bladder chooses to wanna go."

Slightly irritated, the younger Halliwell made his way to the restroom, pointedly trying to ignore the fact that his brother was following behind him. When they stepped inside of it he went straight for one of the stalls, not wanting to use the urinals on the wall like his brother did.

They met up again at the counter when they washed their hands. At first, silence hung between them. But then Wyatt asked:

"So, you tell Mom and Dad yet?"

Leave it to Wyatt to drop a bomb like that, Chris thought, feeling a lump forming in his throat almost immediately thereafter. He turned his head toward his brother, which he then moved back in order to shake it.

Wyatt pulled his hands away from the faucet, prompting the water to turn off. "You _still_ haven't done that yet? Chris, it's been like…what? God, two, three weeks?"

"Two," Chris agreed.

"Fine, two, whatever." Wyatt walked over to the hand-drying machine, sticking his hands beneath its mouth, which activated it. He talked over the sudden loud whooshing sound that filled the bathroom. "What's stopping you?"

Chris responded almost incredulously, "In case you've been out to lunch the last week and a half or so, we've been trying to find things having to do with Lilandra."

"That's no excuse." Wyatt turned his hands over to dry his palms. He looked at Chris. "We stopped trying to find her, like, a week ago. If you have time to go on a date with Landon, then you have time to tell Mom and Dad about him."

"You know, if you're so concerned about it, why don't _you_ tell them?"

"Because he's not _my_ boyfriend!"

"Then why do you care so much?" Chris nearly shouted, feeling his cheeks flush red when another man wandered into the bathroom, looking mildly perturbed by what was going on. The two brothers' conversation was put on pause until he left, after which it picked right back up again. But this time, without the loud noise of the machine.

"Because I care about you, you idiot," Wyatt replied simply. When Chris opened his mouth to rebut the blond held up his now dry right hand, saying, "No, you shut your mouth and listen for once. You _need_ to tell Mom and Dad. Not for them, or for me, or for Mel, or whoever. You need to do it for _yourself_. Otherwise, you're gonna regret it."

The dark haired witch hated it when his brother was right. He couldn't argue with him here, because what he said was true. This was something Chris needed to do for himself, and he was running from it because he was scared.

"It isn't like you to run from things," Wyatt continued, "just because you're scared. That's not my little brother."

"Wyatt," Chris began.

"You know it's true."

Despite himself, the younger witch smiled faintly. But then he chuckled, almost derisively. What Wyatt said there was true, too. He wasn't a fraidy-cat. Chris didn't run away from things with his tail between his legs. Once again he wondered why he was making such a big deal out of this.

"You're gonna do it tomorrow."

Wyatt's sudden announcement sucked all of the joy right out of that moment. Chris' jaw almost dropped.

"What?"

"You're gonna do it tomorrow. And I'm gonna be there with you. That way I _know_ you do it, and so that you've got some support." Wyatt folded his arms over his chest. "That's that."

"And if I say no?" Chris raised an eyebrow, the corners of his mouth curling into a smirk.

"That," Wyatt began with one of his own, "is _that_."

. . .

It was quite possible that Chris, at the moment, was the most nervous he had ever been in his _life._

All right, so perhaps that was exaggerating a little bit. But he was certainly more nervous than he had been in a _long _time. After getting home from Landon's that morning, the young witch found himself worrying minute after minute, hour after hour, about what was going to happen that afternoon. He kept himself as busy as possible by doing things around the house, most of which involved cleaning: doing the dishes; straightening up his room; fixing up the sunroom and the foyer.

Just like his mother, really.

Wyatt had said he would arrive sometime around five, after he got off work. And until then, Chris managed to pass the time pretty fluidly, moving from one activity to the next with only a little bit of down time in between them. But when five o'clock rolled around, there was no Wyatt.

Five minutes past, and still no Wyatt.

Ten minutes.

…Twenty.

By the time an entire half hour passed, Piper's middle child had gone past confused and irritated and was all the way to angry. This was just like his brother…promising to do something, and then not showing up to keep up with it.

Chris chastised himself for the thought. No, he was being irrational. That had only happened maybe twice in their entire life. Granted, they had been big events for Chris, so that was probably why they hurt still. But ultimately, if anyone had always been there for him, it was his brother.

Still, he was upset. He hadn't told his parents that he needed to talk to them, because he wanted to wait until Wyatt showed up. As much as he refused to admit it to himself, having the other there would be a huge comfort in helping him to bring this thing forward to his parents. He could do it alone…but he didn't really want to.

Where _was_ Wyatt, he wondered?

Chris gave his brother the benefit of the doubt and waited five more minutes to see if he would surface. But Wyatt didn't show up. So, going from the living room and into the sunroom, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and called him. Part of him wasn't surprised at all that he got his brother's voice mail. This time, he opted out on leaving a message. Instead, he figured that he would just go to Wyatt's apartment and see what in the world was keeping him. Wyatt had said he was always welcome, after all.

In just a few seconds flat, the dark haired witch orbed himself into the living room of his brother's place. All the blinds over the windows were closed, and he was surprised at how dark the space was. Wyatt was a real fan of natural lighting despite burning easily, so for his blinds to be shut…

Chris' immediate thought was that his brother was drunk. But then he remembered that he had had to work, and getting drunk wasn't an option. If Wyatt lost his job, he would lose his place. He wasn't that stupid.

"Wyatt?" he called out. When he got no response he moved further down the hallway, calling again, but louder this time. "Wyatt?"

Again, no response.

_Now_ Chris was beginning to worry a little. It wasn't like Wyatt to blow him off, at least not nowadays. Furrowing his brow, he stepped carefully down the hall and toward his brother's bedroom. He noticed the door was ajar—just wide enough for him to look inside and see if he was sleeping on the bed. Unfortunately, he wasn't there.

_This isn't normal_, Chris thought in concern.

Pulling out his phone again, he redialed Wyatt's number and waited almost impatiently for a response. He got his brother's voicemail once again. After waiting a few seconds, he called once more. Voice mail again. One final call—and once again, voice mail.

Growling in anger, the young witch snapped his phone shut and shoved it into his pocket. He didn't want to do this, because who knew where Wyatt was, but this was starting to scare him. Focusing intently on his older brother, Chris was soon orbing again.

When he materialized, it was in a place that he didn't recognize. The wallpaper was ugly as hell, and there was no light; but worst of all, there was a stench that slipped right up into his nose and made him want to fall over. Plugging his nose, he glanced around himself, trying to figure out where he was. It had the same layout as Wyatt's apartment…

"And you know what to do?"

The sudden speech caught Chris' attention.

He would be able to recognize that voice from anywhere. His stomach dropped.

"Good. Then go find him and do some damage, hm?"

"Of course."

If it was at all possible, Chris' stomach dropped even lower at that moment, all the way down to the floor. He lifted a hand to his forehead and rubbed it, managing to keep quiet as he whispered:

"…Wyatt."


	16. A Golden Light

Author's Notes: Haha, I've been going back and re-reading the chapters as I post them, and I forgot how crazy things are right now. I can honestly say that they don't lighten up very much, but...well. You'll just have to see. :) Thanks for the reviews! I'm glad to see that people are so interested in what I'm writing. I was toying with finishing my Sailor Moon story, but right now I've got Supernatural on the brain. So I think that might be my next target...Keep an eye out for that if you like that fandom, too!

* * *

Chris hoped to God he was wrong. He hoped that what he had heard had just been a fluke, and that he was dreaming it.

That was the only reason why he ventured a look into the room from where he heard the voices of his brother and Lilandra. But unfortunately for him, he _wasn't_ wrong. There, in the middle of the room, stood Wyatt and the crazy bitch of a demon that made the hair on the back of Chris' neck stand on end.

"I'll be back soon," he heard his brother say, all the while holding a fist to his chest and bowing to Lilandra.

It made the dark haired witch sick, seeing that. He wanted to bust in, right then and there, and get Wyatt back. But without any knowledge of how it was his brother had gotten there, or how Lilandra had managed to gain control over the most powerful witch in the world, he knew it wasn't safe at all. He needed his sister. Really, he needed his whole family. Together, they could fix this.

"Be strong, Wyatt…" Chris shook his head, clutching his fists together as he orbed himself back to the manor.

When he arrived, he called immediately for anyone within the vicinity. Surprisingly, it was his Aunt Phoebe who answered the call. She came out of the kitchen, eyebrows raised.

"What're you yelling about?" she asked.

"Where's Mom? Mel?" Chris said hurriedly.

Phoebe's eyebrows were now knit in concern. She approached her nephew, who was standing in the archway between the dining and sitting rooms. "Chris, what's the matter?"

There was no use waiting, Chris told himself. "Aunt Phoebe, Wyatt's in trouble."

"What do you mean?"

"Lilandra's back, like we thought, and she—" He had to pause to recollect his breath, because it was still so shocking to him. What in the world had happened? "She's managed to get him under some kind of spell, or something, I don't know, but—"

"Chris, just spit it out!" Phoebe insisted, worry written across her face.

"Wyatt's under her control now. I saw him bowing down to her in some room I orbed into. I went to find him cause—well, that isn't important, but—" Chris abruptly stopped speaking when he saw his sister coming down the stairs. He turned to her, then back to his aunt. "Where's Mom?" he repeated.

"She had to go to the restaurant suddenly," Phoebe explained. "She just left not even a minute ago."

"Will you go and get Aunt Paige?" Chris requested.

About this time, Mel stepped off the landing and toward her brother. The worry etched into his face caught her attention. "Chris, what's going on?"

"Mel, Wyatt's…Wyatt's been brainwashed."

His younger sister's eyes widened. "What do you mean, _brainwashed_?"

Chris turned to his aunt at that point, because she was calling for Paige at the top of her lungs. He didn't wait to explain things further until a collection of familiar blue orbs filled the spot beside the potted plant, out of which formed his other aunt. She took her glasses off her face and rubbed her eyes.

"What's wrong?" Paige asked.

"Wyatt's been brainwashed," Chris repeated.

"Again, I ask _how_," Mel interjected.

"I'm getting there. I wanted to wait for Aunt Paige." He gestured toward her, then toward the front door. "And with any luck, Mom'll—"

It was apparently the case that Chris wasn't going to be allowed to finish most of his sentences. Right around the time that he started his sentence, a severely painful jolt shot through his heart. It caused him to stumble back, clutching his chest with a wince.

"Chris!" all three women shouted simultaneously.

"I'm okay," he lied through gritted teeth. But soon the pain came again, and he cried out this time, grunting afterward. That was when he heard Landon's voice in his head, howling at whatever was happening to him…at whatever _Wyatt_ was doing to him.

His Aunts Paige and Phoebe, as well as his sister, moved close and helped to keep him standing through one grip or another. With his focus completely elsewhere Chris shook free of their touches and grunted again, trying to calm down the spasming that was taking place in his chest. He stepped further into the dining room and clutched the edge of the table to the point that his knuckles turned white.

"Chris, you're not okay," Mel said suddenly, moving closer to him once again. She put a hand on his back. "What happened? Is Wyatt hurt?"

"No," he said. "No…it's…_him_."

He knew his sister would understand what his aunts couldn't pick up on. When he looked up at her, he saw the expression on her face; she had caught on. Her eyebrows furrowed into the classic Halliwell stare, and she pulled back.

"Go find him," she said. "Make sure he's okay."

"Find who?" Paige asked in confusion.

Without answering her, Chris simply nodded to his sister. He was about to orb away when he felt another jarring pain, which this time sent him nearly doubling over the table. He needed to get to Landon…badly.

And that was exactly what his powers were going to do for him. There was no time for orbing; as if sensing this, Chris' vision began blacking out, and for a moment everything was blank. When it all came back into focus again, he was inside the parking garage of Landon's company. He recognized it almost immediately based off of the colored strips that littered the large poles spread throughout.

The urgent thought of where Landon was quickly surfaced in his mind. The dark haired witch looked around, only to find nothing at first. But then he turned his glance downward, and suddenly, his heart felt heavy.

There lay Landon, a large, gaping wound in the pit of his stomach. Blood drenched his white button-up shirt as well as his dark blue blazer. His skin looked almost pale, which scared Chris. He knelt down beside his boyfriend and hastily looked him over. The wound had singed marks around it, which meant that it could have been an energy ball. When he grabbed the other's hand it was still warm. Landon was okay for now. He was in a lot of pain, but he was at least somewhat okay.

"Landon, it's me," Chris said.

The older one's head shifted, and he let out a shuddering, almost whimpering moan. "C-Chris? T-That you?"

"Yeah, it's me," he confirmed, squeezing Landon's hand tightly. "I'm gonna get you help, okay? I promise. I'm gonna get you help." His voice cracked as he spoke, because images of Sophie were coming to his mind, causing his throat to tighten and his words to come out almost shakily. He was smart enough to know that his powers didn't work in his astral form. He couldn't orb Landon back to the manor to be healed. But he wasn't going to let Landon die. He just wasn't.

He needed to call his Aunt Paige. He needed her to heal him.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a large flurry of white-blue orbs, which soon formed into his sister, his two aunts, and…his physical form, which was slumped over between the aforementioned women.

Chris willed his astral form to disappear, to go back into his physical body. And although it took a moment, he finally felt himself blacking out again, reawakening with a gasp in between his two aunts. Once he had regained full composure of himself he broke free of their grasp and made way to Landon, who was still lying in blood beside his car.

Without thinking, he reached down and cupped Landon's hand again. His throat instantly tightened once more, and the back of his eyes stung almost hotly.

"Chris…" Landon sputtered out, coughing afterwards.

The three women soon joined Chris beside Landon. Although none of them had seen him face to face—two of whom didn't even know who he _was_—they nonetheless understood that he was important to Chris, who was now squeezing Landon's hand tightly again.

"Heal him," the dark haired witch said to his Aunt Paige. It came out almost as a barked order when he repeated it. "_Heal him!_"

Chris hated having to rely on his aunt or his brother to heal people. What good was he as a whitelighter if he couldn't develop the power to heal, one of the most basic tasks of his kind? He could guide all he wanted, could glamour if necessary, but he couldn't even fix a minor knick or cut. And that bothered him. He couldn't even heal his boyfriend's gaping wound. It wasn't for a lack of wanting to, either. Chris wanted to _badly_…wanted to be able to help end Landon's suffering.

Part of him wanted to think that this never would have happened to Landon had the two of them not started dating. But Chris wouldn't _ever_ want to take all of that back. Even if it meant having to have someone else heal him. Landon meant the world to him already, and in effect, if it hadn't been for him, the young witch likely would have never become so open to as many things as he had. Landon had helped him grow so much as a person in their few short months together…he owed him so much. The _least_ he wanted to be able to do was to heal him when he was hurt. Landon deserved that much.

As Paige stepped in and moved to kneel down, Mel exclaimed suddenly, "Look!"

Chris, of course, ignored her, and instead was looking at Landon's face, wishing that he could take the pain away. Landon was blinking very slowly, as if he were losing focus. Chris could feel the tears welling in the corners of his eyes, threatening to roll down his cheeks.

It would be fixed soon. He just wished that he had been able to do it. He felt almost like a failure.

"Seriously, guys, look!"

The second abrupt exclamation by his sister didn't really faze him, and in fact, he didn't reply to anything until he felt a nudge on his arm from his Aunt Paige. When he looked at her, his eyes strained and his lips pursed tightly to keep from sniffling, he saw her pointing down at his hands. And when he finally turned his attention to them, he felt something inside of his heart well up.

They were glowing gold.

Chris didn't need to be told to know what that meant. Through some miracle, he had been broken that wall that was barring him from accessing his power to heal. Although there were so many questions that he wanted to ask about it, he put them on pause and let go of Landon's hand, raising them up in the air. He had seen healing happen so many times before, but he felt almost lost right then and there on how to do it. It took him a moment until he finally hovered them gingerly over the large, bloody hole that was infecting Landon's lower abdomen. Soon the blood disappeared, the wound on the skin healed, and the shirt mended itself, leaving Landon as if nothing had happened to him at all.

But he wouldn't be seeing it, given that he had passed out. Chris realized this when he looked up at Landon with joy written all over his face that was quickly wiped off at the sight. He turned his attention to his aunts and his sister, who were all looking at him with soft, relieved expressions.

"Good for you," Paige said, rubbing Chris' arm.

Whether or not she was referring to the fact that he had finally gained his ability to heal or had found someone he cared about enough to do it was entirely unknown to him at that point. He reached up and rubbed his eyes, feeling moisture on the tips of his fingers as he pulled them back. His throat still felt tight and he had a nauseating feeling in the pit of his stomach from the way that pain had jabbed through his heart, but Landon was okay, and at that moment, that was all that mattered to him.

"I'm taking him home," Chris announced. He felt no shame when he gripped Landon's hand, holding it against his own chest.

"Then let's go," Phoebe said with a nod. "We've got to find Wyatt."

"That bitch is gonna pay," Melinda nearly growled.

Nobody got on Mel's case for cursing, if just this once.


	17. An Unfortunate Explanation

Author's Notes: It's always intriguing to me to read the questions and comments people leave in reviews, because I really want to respond to them, but I can't, because it would give way too much away! I'm the type of writer who, when writing in a fandom, tries to stick very well to the theme and set up of the show's flow. So for my Charmed stories, it's generally a long arc that covers the entire story, and too many little details can give something away later. I wish I could share more. :D

Thank you for all the reviews and comments, though! I really appreciate them. It's always nice to read what's going on in peoples' heads while they read the story. I hope you all enjoy this chapter!

* * *

Chris watched Landon as he lay there on the couch, a cloth over his forehead in preparation for any questions he might have when he woke up. It was almost disturbing how quickly the dark haired witch had been able to come up with a story as to what had happened to him. Years of lying about the family secret had duly prepared him.

"Someone apparently tried to mug you," Chris would say. "They threw you against the car and you must have hit your head, because when I found you, you were lying on the ground, passed out."

It wasn't the strongest of stories but it would certainly work, and that was all that really mattered at this point. He couldn't just let him find out the truth…not after what had just happened to him. Secondhand experience told him otherwise. The last thing he needed was for this good thing to end. He didn't want that at all.

Chris glanced over his shoulder, through the sitting room and into the dining room. He could see shadows moving around in the doorway to the kitchen—those belonging to his aunts and his sister. His mother was upstairs with his dad. He knew they were talking about it—about him and Landon. What they were saying about them, however, he didn't know. Or, maybe they were just talking about what had happened to Wyatt. So much had happened in such a short period of time that Chris almost felt like it was a dream; a blur of events that melded together in the way that only a dream could make sense of.

But that thought was soon jarred from his head by the sound and feel of Landon shifting beside him. Chris turned his attention back to the lighter haired man, watching as he furrowed his brow, pursed his lips together and started squirming. He murmured something—something Chris couldn't quite catch, and it made the young one blink.

All the worry in his head disappeared at the sight of Landon opening his eyes. Chris felt a swell of pride for himself knowing that he had been the one to heal him. It was such a positive feeling.

"Chris?" Landon groaned quietly.

"Yeah, m'here," Chris replied softly.

"Where am I?"

"You're at my place. I brought you back here." He conveniently left out any reason as to why, not wanting to spawn questions to which he didn't have the answer, or ones about which he would have to lie.

Landon moved to sit up. His hand went immediately for his stomach, which caused Chris' to drop a little. Why was he feeling there?

"What happened?" Landon asked.

"Someone tried to mug you," Chris explained, almost instantly. "I think they must have thrown you against the car and made you hit your head, cause you were out like a light when I found you."

At first, it looked as if Landon had swallowed the story without question. But soon his furrowed brow became even more so, and he scratched the back of his neck, shaking his head slowly afterward. "No…I remember your brother…I didn't expect to see him there, at the garage."

"Wyatt?" Chris feigned confusion.

"Yeah, he was there. And he fucking…Chris, he _attacked_ me." Landon gripped his white shirt at the base of his stomach, fingers tightening against the fabric.

Damage control, Chris thought immediately. He needed damage control of some sort. Reaching up, he ran a hand through his hair and laughed. "Wyatt attacked you? That doesn't sound like him. He couldn't hurt a fly. You probably dreamt it."

"I didn't dream it," Landon said, almost a little sharply. "I know he attacked me. I _felt_ it, and—and I _saw_ it. He stood a few feet from me and this…fucking blue ball appeared in his hand, and—" He stopped suddenly, looking like he might be sick. "Chris, it wasn't _normal_. But I _know_ it was real. I know it."

Refraining from asking, 'are you sure?', Chris just sat there on the coffee table, feeling sick, himself. There was no denying it if Landon was going to be so adamant about it. And if there was one thing he knew, it was that his boyfriend could be just as stubborn as he was sometimes. So the young witch pursed his lips, unsure of what to say or to do remedy the situation. Landon looked at him, nearly worriedly.

"Then you just…showed up out of nowhere, telling me it was going to be okay."

"You must have been hallucinating," Chris tried again. "I can't do that, just appear out of nowhere." He chuckled uneasily. "I don't have magical powers."

"Do you?" Landon asked suddenly. "Because I'm not so sure you don't. Or maybe you think you do. Or maybe your brother does. Fuck, I don't even _know_ right now."

That stung Chris right in the heart. He was absolutely determined not to allow that hurt to show, however, and so he stoned his face, folding his arms over his chest. In situations like this, it was very hard for his obstinacy not to completely ruin things. Chris was a hard head if there ever was one, and when backed into a corner, he tended to blast out, not caring what he left in his wake.

"Maybe I _do_ have powers," he conceded with slightly incredulous tone. "And just maybe they were the ones that saved your life."

"Whoa, now," Landon said, holding up his hands. "I don't want to fight about this, Chris. Especially if you're gonna get sarcastic about it."

"Well, then maybe you shouldn't have brought it up the way you did." The dark haired witch almost grunted in frustration, but instead he managed to keep his head straight on his shoulders. Chris narrowed his eyes a little. "There's a lot about the world you don't know, Landon, and honest to God, I was trying to keep it from you, because I didn't want you getting hurt."

"A little late for that," the older one interjected with a snort.

"Don't do that," Chris warned. "Don't even do that. You don't understand the _hell_ I've been through, trying to keep all of this straightened out." Both feeling and looking offended, the younger one said, "You want to see magical powers? Fine. Here they are."

Leaving it at that, Chris orbed himself the short distance from the table he was sitting on to the spot right beside Landon. Surely enough, the display of magical abilities caused the older one to shrink back, and he looked absolutely baffled.

"My brother _did_ attack you," Chris admitted, not looking the other in the eyes. "And he _did_ hit you with a blue ball. It was energy. I'm surprised he didn't kill you."

"What did you just _do_?"

"It's called magic. You know, the kind of stuff I maybe have."

"Chris," Landon began, shaking his head. "That's—"

"That's what?" Chris turned to look at his boyfriend. "It's weird? Not normal? Fucked up?"

All Landon seemed to be able to say at first was, "It's _something_." His mouth hung partially open in disbelief, and it was obvious that he was trying to say something, but nothing was coming out. He was also gesturing mildly with his hands. Finally, after a few moments, he collected himself, scratched his head and asked:

"How'd you do it?"

Of all the things for Landon to have said or asked at that moment, _that_ was not one of them. Chris had had nightmares about this day ever since the two of them had begun dating. Scenario after scenario had played out in them, ranging anywhere from Landon storming out of wherever it was Chris had told him, to his boyfriend randomly pulling out a gun and shooting him to death. None of them had been particularly positive…or uncertain, either. In this case, he wasn't certain what to say.

"Magic," he finally settled upon saying, although it came out strangely, as if he weren't entirely sure of it, himself. "I don't…really know how to describe it."

"So let me get this straight. You and your brother have magic powers?"

"Yeah," Chris said. He knew that he could have expanded it further and mentioned that his whole family did, but he didn't, for safety reasons. "We use those powers to fight evil."

Landon gave a laugh. "Are you telling me you two are _superheroes_?"

The younger one sighed. "That's so many levels of not funny, Landon. I'm being serious."

An uncomfortable silence grew between them, during which Chris almost wished that someone would come out and find them and alleviate him from having to deal with this conversation. But nobody did. Neither his mom nor his dad came from downstairs, and not one of his relatives in the kitchen popped their heads out to see how he was doing. What he didn't know was that they had orbed up to the attic, and were working on a way to get Wyatt back.

When he finally looked at Landon again, he couldn't deny that the anger he felt, that his obstinate responses, all had to do with the fear of losing the one sitting beside him. Instinctively he reached out for the other's hand. Although at first Landon tugged his away—likely due to his own instinctual response—he moved it back not too long thereafter, and their fingers intertwined.

"I don't want this to break us up," Chris said, feeling the worry now seeping into his facial expression. "I know it's strange, but—"

"Do you?" Landon inquired gently. "Do you really, Chris? Cause…I don't think you do. This isn't something I bet you've had to deal with before…someone telling you that they have magical powers and fight evil with it…and actually have it be _true_. Well, the magic powers part, at least."

Landon was right with that. Chris shook his head, trying to think of how to word all that he was currently feeling. "You know how I healed you?" he settled on saying.

"Yeah."

"Well. That power doesn't just…come out of nowhere. I've been struggling with it for years." As he began to explain, the young witch looked away, toward the sitting room. "It takes a lot of effort, concentration and other things for that power to work."

"So you can't just use it at the drop of a hat?" Landon inferred.

"What that power really needs…is love and admiration," Chris finished, turning himself back to Landon. "The trigger is an emotional response."

"Wait. Wait, wait, wait." The older man held his hands up, having pulled his away from Chris. "Are you telling me you love me?"

"No," Chris said, shaking his head. He snorted out a chuckle. "God, no. It's too early for that, I know. I don't love you. I might, in the future. But right now, I just…I couldn't handle the thought of you having been so good to me, and having done so much for me, and me not being able to do anything about my own brother attacking you and hurting you. You deserve so much, because I really, really care about you." It all sounded so horrifically corny, he thought. But it was nonetheless true.

"So…_I'm_ the reason you got that power to work."

"Yeah."

"That's flattering." Landon laughed, but somewhat uneasily. "I mean, it's freaking crazy as hell, but it's still flattering. I don't even…"

"You don't have to do anything," Chris told him. "I'm…not asking for a miracle here. I'm not asking you to just suddenly accept it and pretend like nothing's different. Because from here on out, it really will be. And if you want to go…" He sighed, knowing that the pain he felt in his chest was because of so many different reasons. "You've got a free pass. All I ask is that you don't tell anyone about me, or my brother, or…any of it."

Quiet seeped into the picture again. Landon and Chris stared at one another for a few moments before the latter soon glanced away. It was hard, this uncertainty. At least when Landon didn't know, he didn't have to worry about it. Or at least, didn't have to worry about it very much.

"I don't know what I think about it all," Landon admitted a little while later. He squeezed Chris' hand, having taken it into his again. "And I don't think it's right of you to give me an ultimatum like that without giving me the time to think it over."

"Consider it a worried preemptive strike."

Landon snorted. "Listen. Just…give me a few days, okay? It changes things, you're right. But…I'd hate myself, not to mention you'd hate me, if I didn't give it time to sink in and let my decision come to me on its own. We've had impasses before, right? We'll get through this."

That was certainly reassuring, Chris thought. He leaned in to give Landon a kiss, but the older one shied away. It hurt, he had to admit, but he could understand his boyfriend's reluctance. Dealing with this kind of bomb of information took time. Still. That smarted.

"I can take you back to your car, if you want," Chris offered.

"You gonna drive me there?"

The two of them shared a look. Then Landon said:

"Oh. _Oh_. Well. Does it hurt?"

"Not really, no. If you keep a good hold on me, you'll be fine."

Landon shook his head. "No, I think I'll just…take a cab."

Part of Chris felt like screaming. But he managed to keep himself under control, saying, "Okay. Well, at least let me walk you to the door."

He helped Landon up and off the couch, walking beside him but not exactly reaching out to touch him. Their hands had broken apart as soon as they had gotten up. Once they were at the front door, Landon opened it and stepped outside, though he hesitated around the porch, turning to look at Chris.

"Call me," the younger one said.

Landon smiled, albeit faintly. "Count on it," he said, before turning and heading down the steps that led to the sidewalk below.


	18. A Family Affair

Author's Notes: first of all, I'd like to apologize for not having put this up sooner! I thought I did before I headed to work, but I realized I hadn't after I got there. Normally I like to update in the morning so people have time to read it during the day at their leisure! At any rate, sorry about that. Here's chapter eighteen! Slightly longer than the other chapters, but for a good reason, which you all shall see. Don't want to say too much. :) I also wanted to continue saying thanks for all the awesome reviews people have been leaving! It makes me feel good to know that my readers are getting involved in my stories.

For those interested, I've just finished chapter two of my Supernatural story, and will likely be posting the first chapter of it sometime this upcoming weekend. It all depends on how far I get (since I like to stay a few chapters ahead of what I post!) As always, please let me know what you think of this chapter :)

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Chris stared at the front door of the manor for what felt like ever before he finally managed to pull himself away from it. Right now, as tough as it may have been to admit it, Landon needed to be pushed to a corner in the back of his mind, and his focus needed to switch to his brother. Wyatt was not only in danger of being hurt, himself, but also of hurting countless others. With the powers that he had…

After a moment, Chris orbed himself from the ground floor of his house up into the attic. There, gathered around the rickety, old, wooden and round table in the middle of it were his parents, aunts, and his sister. They all turned their heads to look at him when he appeared.

"Looks like the man of the hour is here," Mel said.

Chris had no quip in return. He just stepped closer to the table, near his parents, and folded his arms in front of his chest. "Okay, so…I don't know where Wyatt is right now. Or even really what he's doing. All I know is that Lilandra has him wrapped around her bony little fingers."

"Phoebe and Paige filled us in the best they could," Piper said, gesturing to her sisters, "but there's a lot that they don't know that you do, so…why don't you fill us in from the beginning?"

"I don't even know where to start other than where I did before." Chris shifted his weight to his right side, scratching idly at his arm. "Wyatt was supposed to have come over earlier this afternoon, and when he was about half an hour late, I orbed over to his place to see if he was there. He wasn't, so I focused on him, orbed to him, and found him in this other apartment. It—"

Suddenly, he stopped. He had been so preoccupied with all that had happened in the past two hours that he hadn't been able to piece together all of the information that was sitting right in front of his face. At that moment, it all seemed to fall together perfectly.

It was obvious that his family was hanging on his words, because they all looked at him expectantly.

"I orbed into an apartment that was really, really similar in layout to Wyatt's, except it stunk horribly, and it was dark. I didn't realize it then, but…I think it was Lily's apartment."

"Lily?" Piper asked disbelievingly. "You mean his girlfriend?"

"Yeah. Wyatt was with Lily the last time I saw him. We parted ways that night and he said he was going over to her place to stay, and to text him if I needed anything." He blinked, slowly, as more of it dawned on him. "Do either of you have his work number?"

"Yeah," Leo said. "It's…hang on." He produced a phone from his pocket, whose screen he tapped until he found the number. He extended the phone toward Chris. "Why do you need it?"

Taking the phone, Chris said, "I'm gonna call it and see if he came into work today."

The phone call itself was quick, and it verified that Wyatt hadn't, in fact, come into work for the day, and had apparently called in sick. When Chris hung up, he returned the phone to his dad, who sighed.

"You can't honestly be suggesting what I think you're suggesting," Mel said, eying Chris worriedly.

"Do you have any better ideas? I mean, think about it. Lilandra…Lily? She's pale and got dark hair? She seemed nice, but that could have just been an act. It's all too coincidental. _Especially_ if she was the last person to see and be with Wyatt last night. He never skips out on work. He can't afford it."

"Well, we have to be able to prove it," Paige stated. "If we can't, and we accuse an innocent girl, there'll be a huge backlash."

"I believe Chris," Phoebe announced suddenly. She looked down for a moment, fiddling with the hem of her blouse all the while. "It wouldn't be the first time that evil's come into our lives under the guise of romantic interest."

"Of all the people…"

It was Piper who spoke last, seeming distant, worried. She was rolling her hands one over the other in front of her, and she chewed on her lip.

"Mom…" Chris began.

"We'll find him, I know," Piper said. "I just wish she'd gone after someone else. I'm going to make her pay."

"We _all_ are," Mel said assuredly.

Phoebe reached underneath the table and retrieved the map, along with a long, thin crystal that dangled from a thick, black leather string. She put them on top of the table. "First, though, we have to find Wyatt and get him out from under her spell."

. . .

Lilandra had never felt quite so pleased before. Here she was, standing out in the wide open underground, and not a demon was in sight. She knew it was all because of her newest minion, who stood beside her at the ready. In the dirt that surrounded them, there were numerous scorch marks of varying shapes and sizes—all remnants of those who opposed her and were hunting to find her.

With Wyatt Halliwell at her side, however, they stood no chance. She was invincible. And that feeling was bliss.

"Do you want to go and find any others?" Wyatt asked her, turning to Lilandra with a somewhat vacant look in his eyes.

"Not right now, no." Lilandra turned, looking over her shoulder, mostly due to reflex. "I think we've made a strong enough dent in the demonic world for them to realize just who they're messing with now." Her thin, bony fingers cupped Wyatt's shoulder, and she smirked. "Why don't you tell me again what you did to your brother's boy toy?"

"I ambushed him and hit him with a high grade energy ball." The corners of Wyatt's mouth curled into a grin that was very much unlike him. "It didn't kill him, but…I didn't want to. The grief Chris will get from not being able to heal him is more than enough. Plus, they'll just think it was an actual demon attack. I haven't used energy balls in a long time."

"Good, good." Lilandra smirked in satisfaction. "That reminds me. We should pay your family a visit soon…I'm sure they're dying to see you. Or at least, your brother should be."

Without the Halliwells knowing that Wyatt was under her control, Lilandra had the upper hand. Wyatt surely would be able to act just like he normally did, and one by one, he could attack his siblings and other family members, effectively decimating the Halliwell line. She would need him to act quickly, however, because they were smart—there was still a chance that sooner or later they would find out about him being possessed. She could never forgive herself if she didn't complete what it was she had so fervently set out to accomplish.

"Probably best," Wyatt suggested. "They'll all be worried about what happened with Landon. Or at least Chris will. And if I know my little brother, the cat's _way_ out of the bag on his and that guy's relationship…that's gonna cause a whole other can of worms to open up."

Lilandra raised an eyebrow thoughtfully. It times of crisis, it wouldn't make sense for Wyatt not to be around…and as much as she wanted him to be beside her, reinforcing her already immense power, she knew that for the sake of keeping things hidden, he would need to go back. She had no fears as to whether or not he would act normal, that much had already been said. What her biggest concern was the fact that they may not give him the opportunity to leave.

But it was a risk that she was going to have to take.

"Go home, then," she ordered. "Go to your family, and we'll figure out what to do next. I'll contact you." At the sight of Wyatt shifting suddenly, she blinked. "What?"

"They're calling me, actually," Wyatt explained with a snort. "They must not be able to find me through scrying. Cause I know that's the first thing they would have done. Anyway." He folded his arms over his chest. "I'll be back."

That was the last thing he said before dissolving into a collection of orbs.

. . .

"Wyatt!" Chris called once again.

"Do you _really_ think it's a smart idea, calling him when we _know_ he's possessed?"

The dark haired witch chose to ignore his sister's comment. After all, their aunts, mom and dad were all standing in the room. They could all overpower Wyatt together if they had to, but he sincerely hoped it wouldn't come to that. All they had to do was figure out how it was that Lilandra had come to control him, and then they could come up with a plan as to how they would free him from it.

"Wyatt!"

Mel groaned in frustration, but Piper gave her a look that shut her up almost immediately. The whole mood in the room was incredibly tense; everyone knew what could go down, and all of them were hoping against it. Chris especially, since he didn't want to have to face off with his brother like he had his sister. Wyatt had a much stronger repertoire of destructive powers to use, most of which could snap him in half like a twig.

That thought pretty much killed his morale.

"All right, I'm orbing downstairs now so he thinks it's just me. If I need anything, I'll shout."

Before any of his family members could agree to it, Chris was gone from the attic, reappearing in the living room, beside the couch.

Just a few moments afterward Wyatt appeared, arms folded over his chest. He still looked the same, but there was definitely something different about him that the young witch was able to identify.

"What's up, Chris?" Wyatt asked.

_Stick to your role,_ Chris told himself.

"What's up? What do you mean, 'what's up'? You were supposed to be here two freaking hours ago to help me with telling Mom and Dad about Landon." He shook his head, putting forward a mask of irritation that he wore surprisingly well. "Where the hell were you?"

Wyatt seemed genuinely upset by the fact that he had missed out. "Oh, fuck. I completely forgot. I'm so sorry, Chris. It's just—work was really breathing down my neck today, and when I got home, I was just exhausted. I fell asleep sitting in my chair."

That was a nice lie, Chris thought. If he hadn't seen what he had seen, he would have fallen for it completely. He searched intently for any kind of sign—a twitch, a tick—_anything _that would give away some kind of sign to possession or control. But nothing came up right off the bat. He needed to keep stalling for time until he could find it.

"That's great and all, but I've been freaking out about this all day." He gave a frustrated groan, reaching up and running his hands down his face. "Mom and Dad have been watching me like a hawk, thinking that something is up with me. I've even put all my charges on mute for the time being, because it was that important to me."

The intentionally projected guilt in Chris' words seemed to penetrate Wyatt deeply. He saw the contours of his brother's face tightening—specifically the areas around his eyes and lips. The blond looked truly disappointed in himself.

This was acting at its best.

"I'm sorry," Wyatt said, glancing downward. When he turned his gaze upward again, he moved toward Chris and gripped his brother's shoulder.

And that was when Chris saw it.

On Wyatt's right ring finger was a thin band of silver, with what looked like a finely designed, unfamiliar script etched into it. There was a brief glimmer of light. Wyatt didn't wear rings. And if it hadn't been for this close physical encounter, Chris was sure he never would have noticed it. It wasn't even big enough to catch his eye from a distance.

He let Wyatt squeeze his shoulder for a moment longer before he gently shrugged it off and moved away. He heard his older sibling take a step toward him.

"Chris, come on, man, you know I'm sorry."

Anxiousness began to course through him as if someone had injected it directly into his veins in droves. All it would take was one preemptive attack to send Wyatt flying backward, and one word to call the ring to him and get it off of his brother. But he couldn't do that. Not without his family. They were stronger together. He needed them, needed to rely on them. That was one lesson he had learned this year.

"Aunt Paige," he whispered to himself. Her whitelighter powers would surely catch his beckoning call, and she would be able to orb them all down there in a second flat. "Aunt Paige," he repeated.

But it was loud enough for Wyatt to hear. Suddenly, Chris heard a throat being cleared behind him. When he turned around, his eyes met with a Wyatt that looked completely different than the one that had been standing before him just seconds previous.

"So you know."

"Of course I do." There was no denying it now. Chris stood his ground. "I know what she's done to you, and we're going to stop her, Wyatt. You aren't aligned with her. You're aligned with me." As Chris spoke, the rest of his immediate family—along with his aunts—appeared in the foyer beside where the two of them were standing. He pointed to them. "With _us_, your family."

"No!"

Wyatt's outburst was almost deafening to the ear. His deep voice rumbled throughout the ground floor of the manor, and his suddenly outstretched hands send telekinetic shockwaves flying at Chris and the other members of his family. Chris was lifted right off of his feet and flew across the living room, his back colliding with the brick outlay of the chimney, while the rest of his family was thrown in varying directions: Piper flew toward the front door with a scream; Leo and Melinda, into the nook bench beside her; Paige, up and against the sitting room couch; and Phoebe, with a yell, all the way into the dining room, where she hit the dining room table and chair.

"I will not be stopped, and neither will Lilandra!"

Chris, from the ground, grunted with effort as he moved to sit up. Using one elbow to support himself, he swung his other arm across his front, which sent Wyatt flying into the sitting room as well. He let out a near roar as he crashed into the grandfather clock, sending bursts of glass shards and large slivers of wood into the air. There was commotion all over the house as the rest of the Halliwells stumbled to get back to their feet. Chris saw his mom already rushing to where Wyatt was, and when he lifted himself to a standing position, he saw his dad making sure that Mel was okay.

By the time he made it into the sitting room, Wyatt was already up and had his hands at the ready. On the other side of the couch stood their two aunts and his mother, reminiscent of the way they used to huddle together when reading spells to vanquish demons.

"Wyatt, I don't want to hurt you," Piper warned at first. "But I will use any means necessary to stop you."

"Spoken like a true mother," Wyatt said with contempt ignited in his voice. "You sound so hypocritical when you say that, you know. 'Oh, I don't want to hurt you. I just want to stop you any way possible from doing something that I don't approve of'. Stop me if you've heard it before."

"Shut up!"

Chris' response was gut instinct. He extended his arm and then whipped it right up into the air, which caused Wyatt to spring upwards. But before he hit the vaulted ceiling high up above, he turned into a fluttering collection of orbs that soon rematerialized in the dining room. Before any of them could even barely turn, he had an energy ball in his hand and was throwing it at his aunts and mother.

But Phoebe seemed prepared for a move like that. Gripping onto Paige, who was gripping onto Piper, she levitated the three of them right up into the air. The energy ball spun right through the air and came in direct contact with the potted plant by the front door. It promptly exploded, which caused Mel to yelp and freeze it.

Paige orbed herself, Piper and Phoebe away from Wyatt and into the foyer where Leo and Melinda were.

"Wyatt, this isn't you!" Leo said, voice lowering in pitch and but rising in intensity with each word. "Stop it, right now!"

"Oh, Dad. Dad, Dad, Dad. You don't even _know_. In the chair!" Wyatt pointed at his father before directing his hand toward a chair in the conservatory. Soon Leo disintegrated into white-blue orbs, which flew through the air. As he reformed he knocked right into the heavyset wooden chair, and Leo groaned in pain, his body draped over the partially broken piece of furniture.

"Wyatt Matthew Halliwell!"

Piper's booming voice filled the house, and everything seemed to stand still for a moment. Silence followed, during which she put her hands at her sides and walked—or rather, stomped—into the sitting room.

"_Bind them hard, bind them fast, for some time this spell shall last_," she began to chant, while still walking.

Wyatt looked at her with disbelief riddled all over his face. He scoffed a laugh. "You really think that's going to stop me?" An energy ball formed in his hand, but it soon exploded into pieces; Mel's hands were in the air, poised from an attack.

"_As I wish it, so shall it be…"_

"NO!" Piper's eldest growled, calling for Excalibur, which appeared in his hands.

But Chris, who had orbed next to his Aunt Paige, grabbed her hand and together, the two of them called, "_Excalibur!_"

The legendary sword dissolved into orbs and was out of Wyatt's hands just long enough for Piper to finish chanting:

"…_he will for now remain power free."_

"NOOO!!"

The sword, which had then been trying to return to its rightful owner's hands, stopped in mid air, right beside Piper, and landed on the hardwood floor with a resounding clatter that caused them all to twitch. But their attention was soon on Wyatt. He had fallen to his knees in a dramatic display, looking like he was about to be beheaded.

"How dare you take away my powers!" he spat at his mother, who simply stared at him.

"How dare _you_ attempt to attack your own family," she countered. "But you don't know what you're doing, so I'll forgive you for it. But for now!" She lifted her hands and activated her freezing power. Soon Wyatt froze in place, looking like a still-life statue.

She turned to her family—all of who were now standing by Leo—and then made her way towards them. There was obvious discomfort on her face.

"It's the ring," Chris said almost immediately. "I saw it on Wyatt's finger. He doesn't wear them. Whatever's got him has got to be in that ring."

Piper said nothing as she turned back around and moved to Wyatt. She reached down and lifted her son's hands in search of the ring, and once she found it, she tugged it off as carefully as she could, bringing it close to her face afterward. Without so much as a word she tossed it into the air, threw her hands out, and blew it into pieces. The silver fragments burst outward like a firework, raining down onto the ground around Excalibur.

Piper eyed her family. She gave a sigh.

"Not anymore."


	19. Brotherly Love

Author's Notes: sorry it took me a bit to put this one up. I was gonna do it this morning, but I got a late start and then had to head to work and was like, oh no! But, I figure better late than never. So! Here is chapter 19. Just a little random family love (nothin dirty though) going on in this chapter. Warm fuzzy moments ahead, so to speak, so brace yourselves! As always, please be sure to let me know what you think. I love to hear what you all have to say! :D

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Piper waved her hand in front of her eldest child's face, and in an instant he was unfrozen, eyes blinking a few times as though he were trying to make sense of what had just happened to him. When he realized he was kneeling, Wyatt lifted himself to his feet, and then cleared his throat.

"What happened?" he asked in confusion.

"Where to begin, really, is the question," Piper replied. She shook her head, but then moved in and gave her son a hug. She pulled back before he really had a chance to return it. "Thank God you're okay."

"Yeah, I…guess. But again I ask, what happened?"

"You were possessed," they all said in unison.

That they did that caused them all to snort, laugh or chuckle.

"I'm glad to see you all find it so funny," Wyatt said uneasily.

"We're not laughing about that, dork," Mel said. "Just…well, whatever. You're okay now, that's all that matters." She, too, moved in to hug Wyatt, but she hugged his side. Given how short she was compared to him, her head pressed against his upper arm. She stepped back, and that was when Chris moved in.

Normally he never hugged Wyatt. Hell, he never hugged most of his family, except for his mother. But at that moment, there was some guilt rolling around in Chris' head. He should have been able to catch what was going on instead of getting so angry with his brother for not having been there. It wasn't his fault, after all. Lilandra had once again fucked things up for them.

But he put all that aside when he hugged the tall blond, whose surprise was etched onto his face. This hug seemed to last the longest, and when Chris stepped back, Wyatt chuckled.

"What's up, lovebug?" he teased.

"Oh, shut up," Chris bit back, though jokingly.

"So does somebody wanna explain things a little bit beyond, 'you were possessed', or do I have to wait for it in the family newsletter?" Wyatt looked around then, finally catching sight of the damage that had occurred in the house. The broken grandfather clock caught his attention, as well as the somewhat shattered chair he had thrown his father into.

"You've got three guesses as to who it was," Paige said, "and the first two don't count."

"Lilandra."

"Ding ding."

"If we knew anything beyond that, things would be so much better," Piper said, looking at her children, her husband, and finally at her sisters. She folded her arms over her chest. "My guess is sabotage…or even espionage. Something like that."

"It was Lily," Chris blurted out all of the sudden. At the looks he got from his sister and mom, he said, slightly defensively, "What? He needed to find out sooner or later."

Hearing that it had been Lily who had done it made Wyatt blink. He appeared as if he didn't believe what Chris had said. "You serious?"

Chris just nodded.

"It can't be." Wyatt gave a laugh. "Seriously, it can't be. She was amazing. Why would—" But the somber looks on his family's faces made him stop. There was obviously no denying it.

"We're not entirely sure that it really _is_ her," Piper amended softly. "It just fits the bill for it to _be_ her, since she was the last one to be with you, and Chris said he found you and her in her apartment…"

Wyatt glanced down, clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth. His hands went immediately for his pockets, which was usually a sign that he was at a loss for words. When he looked back up again, there was disappointment and discomfort in his eyes.

"Oh, Wyatt…" Phoebe stepped close to her nephew and wrapped one of her arms around his waist, using the hand of her other arm to gently rub his stomach, like she had when he was younger. "It's okay. We've been there, too. You know?"

"Still." There was obvious hurt building up inside Piper's eldest, but given how he was, that hurt was barely made visible. Everything else was fine to show, but Wyatt had never been one to show emotional pain so much. It just wasn't the way he was. "I can't believe I fell for it."

"Don't knock yourself down," Chris said. "It could have happened to any of us. You're just…so powerful. She probably thought you would do her the most good."

"Oh!" Piper exclaimed, lifting a finger. "That reminds me"—she lowered it—"I…need to give him back his powers."

Wyatt's face fell. "You took away my _powers_?"

"For both your and our safety." Leaving it at that, Piper remained silent momentarily, pensive, and then said: "_Magic that binds will now unbind, return his powers in full and in kind_."

Wyatt suddenly glowed bright blue and white for a moment, and there was a jingling chime as his powers returned to him. Just a mere moment later he orbed in place—a test to make sure that he did, in fact, have them back.

"Thanks, Mom," he said, although his tone was somewhat dry.

"Now that you're back," Leo began, "we should definitely try getting back on track with vanquishing Lilandra for good. It still baffles me how she escaped being vanquished in the first place." He scratched the side of his head. "There's no way any average demon could manage that."

"But she's _not _average, remember?" Mel chimed in. "The _Book_ said that she had ties with Zankou, which means that she's gotta have _something_ going for her. Plus, if there were demons that were supposedly coming after her…"

"The only way she could have prevented herself from feeling the full effects of a Power of Three vanquish is if she had been able to prepare herself somehow," Phoebe mused aloud. "But to my knowledge, there's nothing she has that's capable of doing that. Or any demon, for that matter."

"Unless they had their own _Book of Shadows_, or something," Chris said.

Piper, Phoebe, Paige and Leo all paused, looking at one another for a moment. The silence caused the three younger witches to ask in unison: "What?"

"Well," Piper began. "They _do_ have their own _Book_, so to speak. Except it's called the _Grimoire_. It's like ours, but it's all dark magic and has tips and vanquishing things for good instead of evil."

"Are you _serious_?" Chris looked completely thrown. "Why didn't you ever tell us this?"

"Because your dad supposedly orbed it into the mountains." Piper eyed Leo, who held his hands up, saying, "Hey, I did!"

Wyatt said, "So it's entirely possible, then, that someone managed to dig it up."

"Possible, yeah, but unlikely," Leo said.

"But still possible," Phoebe reiterated.

"Yeah, yeah, we've deduced possibility into the picture, here." Chris spoke with slight impatience. "In theory, the _Grimoire_ she has would be able to help her stave off a vanquish…right? If such a thing existed, like a spell, or a potion?"

"Right," Piper said. "I guess it was stupid to think that nobody would ever find it, or go after it. God, that was years ago, though…at least twenty? Something like that. Why wait so long to search for it?"

"Unless she _had _been searching for it, and didn't manage to find it until a few months ago," Paige explained.

"Still. All this for what?"

"You have to ask, Mom?" Mel snorted quietly. "We're the Charmed Ones, aren't we? If you had the evil equivalent of the _Book of Shadows_, wouldn't _you_ try and go after the greatest force of good and vanquish it? Think of the standing she'd get in the demonic world."

"That book'd certainly have the necessary spell work for possession," Leo said. "Remember? They used it for the initiation of the Source before, right? Well, if it's _that _one. Doubt it's another, though. All the potions, and enchantments…"

"Can it be destroyed?" Chris asked.

"We tried," Piper sighed. "And we failed. But who knows? We might be able to this time…with you three helping."

"Then let's get Lilandra _and_ her _Grimoire_," Mel said. "So that way we don't have to worry about this kind of thing happening as much anymore."

"Sounds like a good plan," Chris said. Everyone nodded in agreement, but nobody spoke. So, he took advantage of this moment and grasped his brother's shoulder. "I hate to ask you, Wy, but…can you sense Lily—I mean, Lilandra's, presence? Do you think you could orb to her?"

"Likely," Wyatt said. He hesitated. "I mean, I did it before, once. It shouldn't be too hard."

"Why don't we give him some time to recuperate?" Phoebe suggested. "He's been through a lot. Lilandra probably assumes she still has him under her control…so Wyatt, you should keep playing up on that if she contacts you or anything. But really, I think you need to just rest a bit."

"I agree with Phoebe," Piper said. She saw that Chris was about to interrupt, and she lifted up her hand. "Ah-ah! No, he needs it. Lilandra can wait. She likely isn't going to do anything damaging if she doesn't have Wyatt beside her. I bet she's still riding on the joy from having managed to possess him in the first place." There was irritation in her voice.

"Come on, Wy, let's go upstairs," Chris said then, letting go of his brother's shoulder. Phoebe pulled away from him, too, moving closer to Paige.

"If you need anything, just let us know," Mel said.

"I'll help clean up the clock," Wyatt mentioned while climbing the stairs. "Just leave it for later."

As Chris and Wyatt made their way up, the rest of the family shared a concerned look. This was going to take a lot out of them. They could all feel it.

. . .

Chris had half expected the rest of his family to follow him and his brother when they went upstairs and into Chris' room, but nobody did. In fact, he even tested it by opening the bedroom door a few seconds after they entered. Nobody was in the hall, listening in. _That_ was a rarity. He shut the door once more and turned to his brother, who was now lying down on the bed.

"God, I haven't been in here since…" Wyatt trailed off, resting his hands on his face.

"Since you moved out," Chris finished for him.

Silence snuck in, settling itself comfortably in the room. The younger witch moved over to his bed and took a seat at the foot of it. Despite it all, having Wyatt back in his room felt somewhat weird. He had thought that when this moment came—the moment that they sat alone in here together—that it would feel more like the old times, when they had both lived in it. But it didn't.

He hadn't anticipated this feeling inside of him.

"You doin' okay?" Chris asked after a while.

"Yeah. Better than before, I guess." Wyatt's speech was muffled until he took his hands off of his face. He spoke while staring directly up at the ceiling. "I don't remember anything after the movie. No matter how hard I try. Just…after we parted ways, it all goes black."

Maybe it was better that way, the dark haired one thought. Maybe it was better for Wyatt not to know what happened, or what he had done. After all, it hadn't truly been Wyatt had attacked Landon, just like it hadn't truly been Melinda when she had attacked Chris. He was starting to think Lilandra had it out for him specifically; it all seemed to revolve around him and the people he cared about. First Sophie, then Mel, then Wyatt, and finally, Landon. What was her problem?

But a sudden sigh from Wyatt brought Chris out of his reverie.

"I have to admit, it feels really good to be home right now."

"I think that's because this is the biggest magical thing that's happened since you moved out. Of course it feels good to be back with your family, in your home." Chris scratched the tip of his nose. "We've really…just…gotta find a way to get Lilandra vanquished for good."

Wyatt moved to sit up. "I think we gotta get the book away from her, first. With it, she can probably anticipate and counteract any moves we make."

"We don't know how to get into her lair, though. I mean, you could try going in there on your own. You'd just have to be damn careful. I know I asked if you could sense her, but…"

"I _am_ careful," Wyatt said in his immediate defense. But then he shook his head. "Anyway, I probably should go back soon. I bet she's expecting me, if she sent me to come and attack you guys."

"She…didn't send you," Chris said hesitantly. "At least, I don't think she did. I think you came because I was calling for you."

"What do you mean?"

"I was calling for you. We needed to make sure you were actually possessed. When I saw you in the room with _her_…" The dark haired witch sighed. "When I saw you in there with Lilandra, it was after I'd been waiting for you to come meet me so that I could tell Mom and Dad about Landon."

The look on Wyatt's face almost tore Chris' insides apart. _There_ was the true surprise and confusion he had expected. But ultimately it was the remorse in his brother's light colored eyes that really did it to him.

"Oh, _God_. Chris…"

"No, don't worry about it now." Chris held up a hand and shook it dismissively from side to side. "That's why I called you in the first place. I was angry at first, but it went away. Anyway…when you came, I called you out on what happened, and that's when you started attacking people. Basically."

Wyatt sat up, and then brought his knees up toward his chest. He rested his head in his hands for a few seconds. When he lifted it, he gave a deep sigh. "I'm gonna knock that bitch into the 50th century, I swear."

"You and me both."

The malice that dripped from Chris' voice seemed to catch Wyatt's attention. The blond eyed his brother, then said slowly, "You still angry about what she did to Sophie?"

"Always," Chris replied quickly. And in his irritation, he made the mistake of also saying: "But that's not all of it."

"Then what else?"

"What?"

"What else is there? You said that that isn't all of it."

Damn it, Chris thought, agitated with himself for making such a stupid slip. "It's…ugh. It's not really anything. I'm just angry, thinking about it."

"Oh, come on. You know you can't lie to me any more than I can lie to you, you idiot." Wyatt chuckled. "What is it?"

Still hesitating, the younger witch shifted in place, shaking his head. "Like I said, it's not that big a deal.

"Chris, seriously, just tell me. Come on." Wyatt sounded sterner, and even a little frustrated.

"Look, you attacked Landon, okay?"

It was blurted out before Chris had been able to stop it, and he immediately regretted it. He caught sight briefly of his brother's face before he looked away. There had been confusion in those eyes, but mostly what appeared to be fright.

"I did _what_?"

"You attacked Landon."

"Not willingly!" Wyatt said sharply.

"No, I know, Wyatt."

"You can't be serious." Now the older one sounded incredulous. "Please tell me you're not serious."

"Why would I lie to you?"

Wyatt groaned in obvious frustration, though toward the end, it sounded more like a whine than anything else. "I'm gonna kill her. I swear to God, I'm gonna kill her. Just…choke her with my own two hands. I swear."

"If you could refrain from getting homicidal and violent for just one second, maybe we could talk about how we're gonna vanquish her together. Wasn't _I_ the one who supposedly has issues with depending on my family? Don't take my title away." Chris usually wasn't the one who cracked jokes—that was Wyatt—but here, he just fell into it.

And it worked. Wyatt laughed, but only briefly. In just a second's time his expression had become serious once more, his light colored eyebrows furrowed in thought. "I gotta go back there with her and see if I can't get the _Grimoire_."

"I'm gonna bet that if evil can't touch the _Book of Shadows_, good can't touch the _Grimoire_."

"Well, that didn't stop Mom, Aunt Phoebe and Aunt Paige, so I doubt it'll stop me."

"_Us_," Chris corrected.

"You're not coming with me," Wyatt snipped. He looked at his brother.

"You're _crazy_ if you think I'm letting you go in there by yourself to get it. Look, you may be Mister Twice Blessed Witch"—Chris used air quotes—"but you're still my brother, and I'm not letting you throw yourself to the wolves."

A moment of silence followed Chris' words, after which Wyatt snorted faintly. He shook his head.

"You're so damn stubborn. Mom would be seriously proud, if she weren't already."

Chris hid most of his smile, but it was partially breaking out on his face. "So, how are we gonna do this?"

"Well, I bet she's expecting that none of you realize what happened to me, or that I would give myself away by acting any different. So, I should probably contact her in some way soon enough. My guess is that she'll make me do some other stuff, or she'll just send me right to attacking you all."

"She has to know that'd be suicide. Even _you_ couldn't take on the entire family."

"Maybe she'd have me do it systematically, then," Wyatt said. "Maybe off you one by one. She seems to be real devious, and conniving. That sounds like her style of murder."

"Wouldn't that be suspicious?"

"Yeah, likely." Wyatt grunted. "I dunno what her plans are! I'm just…throwing things out there."

"We'll figure it out," Chris said. "Just…lie back and chill for a bit."

Neither of them said anything after that. Wyatt went back to lying down, and Chris simply sat at the end of the bed, staring at the door, as if he expected somebody to walk through it. A few minutes later, he was just about to get up and go to the bathroom when he heard his brother say something, although he didn't quite catch it. He turned to look at Wyatt.

"What was that?"

"I'm sorry," Wyatt repeated. He was still looking up at the ceiling.

"For what?"

"For…what I did to Landon."

Chris' stomach tightened a little bit. "I already told you, don't worry about it. You didn't know what you were doing."

"But I still _did_ it. So…I'm sorry. I'm really sorry." He lifted his head just enough to look at Chris, who snorted lightly and reached out to squeeze his brother's forearm.

"Thanks, Wy."


	20. A Discovery

Author's Notes: Go go go, chapter 20! It's getting close to the end. Can you feel it? ;) Just a little ways longer to go. For the interested parties, I've posted the first chapter of my Supernatural fic, too! You can find it on my user page. If that's your cup of tea, too, please read and leave me a review of what you think! With this one as well, if you would! It would make my day. :D

* * *

Wyatt suddenly lifted himself up into a sitting position. A shadow seemed to pass over his face.

Chris didn't need to guess at what had happened.

"She's calling for me," his brother announced.

"_Don't_ go for the _Grimoire_," Chris warned, but his expression soon softened. "Be careful, okay?"

"I will," Wyatt said. "Do me a favor and tell Mom and the others, okay? I don't wanna waste time and have her suspect that something's up."

Chris nodded, and they both moved to stand. It was awkward for a moment, simply standing there, which was what prompted him to hug his older sibling.

"Be careful. If at any point it looks like it's gonna go sour, call for me. I'll find you."

It was Wyatt's turn to nod this time. He gave a verbal agreement as well before he dematerialized, the collection of orbs floating up and through the ceiling. Chris watched them go until they were completely gone, after which he sighed and folded his arms over his chest. He knew Wyatt could take care of himself, but he was still worried. If he gave off just one slight sign…

Not much time had passed since they had gone upstairs, so when Chris went back down to the ground floor, he wasn't surprised to see that his family hadn't gone very far. Mel and Leo were cleaning up the remnants of the grandfather clock, despite Wyatt having told them to wait on it so that he could help them. Piper, as well as Phoebe and Paige, were picking up the broken sticks of wood from the chair that Leo had been thrown into.

Chris cleared his throat loudly when he arrived at the entrance to the conservatory by the sitting room, which caught the attention of everyone else nearby.

"Something wrong?" Piper asked immediately.

"Wyatt was called back."

"Damn it. He needed to wait." Piper dropped the thick piece of wood, which fell to the ground with a clattering noise. She moved closer to her other son. "When did he leave?"

"Just a moment ago. We were just sitting up there and she called him. He didn't want her suspecting anything…"

The three sisters shared a look that was heavy with worry. Leo, however, looked more pensive, while Mel just looked irritated.

"He'll be fine," Leo said in an assuring manner. "You know Wyatt. He's very capable."

"Don't tell me you're not worried," Piper snapped at her husband. "But…you're right. _Still_."

"I told him to call for me if anything seems dangerous," Chris explained. "We were coming up with ideas for getting the _Grimoire_ from her."

"What did you come up with?" Paige inquired.

"Well, I told him that good probably can't touch it." A positive nod from his mother made him continue. "But…how did you guys get a hold of it?"

"We tricked it into a bag," Phoebe said. "And then from there, we gave it to Leo, and he orbed it up and into wherever he ended up taking it."

Mel shook her head, as if she didn't believe anything that was being said. "I'm gonna bet she's got it pretty guarded. How in the world are we gonna get it from her?"

"Some good, old fashioned elbow grease fighting," Chris joked. When nobody laughed, he just looked at them, then added flatly, "Okay fine, I won't make any jokes." It really _was_ Wyatt's place to be the jokester.

"We'll figure it out," Piper said finally. "We've dealt with demons who had impenetrable places before. She doesn't know who she's dealing with." She sighed, but shortly, and straightened her stance. "We're the Charmed Ones. We can do anything."

. . .

Lilandra was mildly surprised to see how quickly the collection of orbs appeared beside her in her lair. When they materialized into Wyatt, a considering look appeared on her face. He first just stood there, but after a moment he bowed briefly. She smiled thinly.

"I wasn't expecting you to arrive so quickly."

Wyatt straightened his stance. "Things back home got fixed much quicker than I expected." He lowered his tone, if just a little, thinking that it might have been how he spoke to her originally, while possessed. There was a type of flatness to it. "My brother somehow managed to finally uncover his ability to heal. I'd venture a guess that his feelings for that guy are more than he's letting on."

"Did he mention that he had healed him, then?" Lilandra asked curiously.

"Yes. But as we suspected, they assume that a demon was behind the attacks. Not me." He smiled, although inwardly, he really wanted to just throttle the woman standing before him.

"Excellent. Then my plan can go forward without any snags. Him being able to heal is a worry, but we'll just have to make sure that you don't leave anything behind _to_ be healed." For Lilandra, nothing about Wyatt seemed especially different. His ruse was working perfectly, even if she had no idea that he was pulling it. She paused for a few moments, but afterward, she stated, "The reason I called you back was just to see the progress you had made, and the information you had gathered. I have a few things I need to check out before I go any further, and for that, I need you to go back and pretend like nothing has changed."

While Lilandra spoke, Wyatt's eyes discreetly searched the entirety of her lair, really seeing it for the first time. It was dimly lit and dank—much like the apartment she had, although Wyatt couldn't really make the correlation, given how fuzzy his memory was at that point. There was a very familiar stench in the air, and if he had the time, he was sure that he could identify it. All he knew was that it was leafy and reeked of rotting. Her ingredients must have been going sour.

"Do you understand?" Lilandra asked, irritable that Wyatt's attention seemed to be elsewhere.

"Yes! Yes, I understand," he said, bowing again. "I apologize. I…don't mean to sound rude, but something smells like it's rotting, and I was just wondering if you maybe needed some fresh ingredients." He figured that was a good save. "We have a lot in stores at the manor. Perhaps I can bring you some?"

Lilandra was appeased by his diligence. Given how much time she spent in her lair, she didn't always catch the change in scent. "I would greatly appreciate that. I have several potions I was hoping to make…I'm in need of some Murdock root and pheasant feathers. _Good_ pheasant feathers. I know the difference."

"My family only uses the best," Wyatt assured her.

"Then by all means."

Wyatt lifted his right hand and brought it to the opposite side of his chest, bowing again. What he didn't realize was that the ring was missing. Lilandra, however, did. Her keen eyesight had picked it out almost immediately. Anger surged through her like fire, but she restrained herself from showing it. For that damn family to remove the curse that she had slowly been putting on him for weeks in just a matter of minutes…it frustrated her to no end. They would surely pay.

But he didn't know that she was aware of this. And for her, that meant an advantage. If she wanted to, all it would take was a fireball right in Wyatt's chest for him to be down for the count. If she couldn't have him under her power, then nobody would.

"Before you go," Lilandra began, clearing her throat, "I want you to grab me that book right there, off the shelf nearby you."

For the first time since having come back down here, Wyatt felt a sting of uncertainty. When he looked at the book in question, he saw an inverted pentagram with a skull on the spine of it. He didn't know for sure, but his gut feeling told him that the text in question was the _Grimoire_. It was thick, leather-bound and just had a dark feeling to it.

He stayed still momentarily. Doing it meant revealing that he was no longer possessed, because the book was bound to shield itself from him. Why would she have asked in the first place? Did she suspect? If she did, how could she have figured it out so suddenly? Or perhaps she was simply asking him to do it because she didn't want to. There was so much he didn't know for sure…

Unfortunately for him, lost in his thoughts as he was, enough time had passed to give Lilandra that extra measure of certainty to realize that he had, in fact, escaped possession. In that unguarded moment, she pulled a dagger from its resting place on her hip and threw it right at Wyatt. He turned around, having intended to attack her, but was soon met with a dagger that buried itself deeply into his chest.

Wyatt gave a wheezing grunt and tried gripping at the intruding weapon, almost helplessly. He stumbled backward, coming in contact with the aforementioned shelf, and when he finally fell to the ground, it was onto his side. Blood poured out of the wound, dribbling all over his shirt before it began pooling on the ground.

Lilandra had never felt such a rush of power and exhilaration before. It almost seemed too easy, taking him down like that. She peered at him carefully, expecting him to get up and suddenly pull the knife out to throw at her.

When she approached him she held her hands at the ready, prepared to throw fireballs if necessary. But then something happened—something that she never would have expected, and that left her stumbling for words: Wyatt's body dissolved into white-blue orbs, which suddenly fluttered away, leaving only a small pool of blood in his place.

. . .

Chris was in the process of helping Mel pick up the rest of the shattered glass when he saw it—the sudden flurry of orbs that formed haphazardly on the floor, solidifying into the aching form of his brother. The groan that Wyatt gave scared him, and he, along with his younger sister, rushed to the other's side. That was when he noticed the dagger buried deep within Wyatt's chest cavity.

"Oh my _God_," Mel gasped, covering her mouth.

"We've got to get it out of him," Chris said quickly. "Wyatt? Wyatt, can you hear me? It's Chris. Wyatt!"

The tall blond, whose face was contorted and scrunched up tightly, groaned again, pain written all over him. He gave an incomprehensible reply.

Chris cursed quietly. "He's totally out of it. Wyatt! This is gonna hurt, but try not to freak out too much, okay?" He knew his brother probably wasn't paying much attention, so when he called for the dagger and consequently orbed it out onto the floor of the foyer a ways away, he wasn't much surprised by the sudden cry that Wyatt gave.

All the commotion seemed to have attracted the attention of the rest of the family upstairs. Piper, along with Phoebe, Paige and Leo, came rushing down the stairs and into the sitting room, where the three younger Halliwells were. Like Mel, Piper gasped and held a hand to her mouth, but once that moment of shock was past, she hardened, becoming more like she did when her family was in danger.

"We need to heal him," she announced, voice somewhat strained. "Paige—"

"I'm on it," Paige said.

"Wait!" Chris gripped his aunt's wrists when her hands came near. "I want to help."

Nobody said anything then, just watching as Chris, while taking hold of one of his aunt's hands, placed his other over the wound on Wyatt's chest. He felt the familiar warmth coursing through him, like when he had healed Landon. This time, with Paige's help, the light produced by his hand was even more golden and bright. Soon Wyatt's wound was healed and completely clean. The blond gave a gasp, and he rolled onto his back, coughing.

Piper wasted no time in lifting him up a little and cradling his shoulders and head in her arms.

"Mom—" Wyatt began, trying not to cough any more.

"Thank God you're okay," she interrupted.

"_Mom_—" he said, more insistently than before.

But Piper didn't let go. Instead, she hugged him tighter, which made everyone else around them laugh quietly. When she did finally relinquish her grip on him, Wyatt moved to sit up, gingerly touching his chest. His expression was undeniably somber, which soured the good ambiance that had overtaken the bad one.

"Lilandra knows."

"We hazarded a guess," Chris said solemnly. His eyes immediately darted around them, partially expecting her to appear out of nowhere. "God…how did she find out so quickly?"

"I don't know." As Wyatt moved to stand, the rest of his family stepped back all at once, similar to a ripple effect. The blond then made his way toward the couch and took a seat on it, arms propped up on his thighs and his head cradled in his hands. "She just asked me to grab the _Grimoire_ from the shelf, and when I turned around to attack her, she hit me with the dagger."

"So much for getting it into our hands," Mel grumbled as they all moved to the front side of the couch.

"There's not much we can do about that now," Phoebe said. "She knows we know, and we know that she knows. So, we really need to make a decision between offense and defense. Go and attack her, or wait for her to attack, and come up with a good battle plan."

"We were on the defense last time," Chris said. "Let her be on it this time. There's no way she can stop all of us."

"Even with the _Grimoire_," Paige added.

"Do you think you can still orb there?" Piper asked suddenly, looking at her son. She looked over her shoulder and into the conservatory in the exact same way that Chris had—he caught her doing it, and it made him snort.

"She probably blocked it off from me. Don't you think?"

"Warding takes time," Leo explained. "If we want to attack, we have to do it soon."

"No time like the present," Chris said. As he was still standing, he began to pace back and forth, already working up a vanquishing spell in his head. Little did he know that he wasn't the only one doing so.

"Are we ready?" Phoebe asked.

"As ready as we'll ever be," Wyatt said slowly.

"I'll stay here and keep ground at the manor." Leo folded his arms over his chest. "If anybody needs anything…"

"Henry!" Paige called, out of the blue. "_Henry_!"

The rest of the family looked at her, all briefly startled by her sudden shouting. But just a few moments later, Henry Junior appeared in a collection of orbs. He had a soda in one hand and his phone in the other.

"What do you want, Mom? This really had better be important, I was busy!"

"I need to stay here with your uncle in case anything happens."

The seriousness of her voice brought forth a confused look on Henry's face. "Huh? Wait, what's going on?"

"Some serious shit," Mel said.

"_Mel_!"

"Sorry, Mom. But it's _true_."

"I'm so freaking confused," Henry said. "I was hanging out with some friends—"

Paige shook her head firmly. "I need you to stay here and make sure you can orb him to magic school if the battle's brought here."

"Okay." Henry clearly knew better than to argue with her about it.

"We'd better get to it, then," Chris announced. "She's probably up to the hilt in protection as we speak."

"That's not gonna stop us," Wyatt said.

Melinda smirked. "We're the Charmed Ones. We can do anything. Right, Mom?"

Piper just snorted, though amusement was evident on her face.


	21. An Explosive Finish

Author's Notes: Sorry it took me so long to post this! It's been a bit of a crazy week. It's my final year in my school so I'm trying to figure everything out for the two degrees I'm going for, and for the most part, it's been busy. Emails and all sorts of crazy things going on. Anyways, here is chapter 21! It's gonna be a blast, I'll say that much. ;) I hope you all enjoy it! Please let me know what you think. :D

* * *

With Henry standing beside Leo, the remaining present members of the Halliwell family all stood around Wyatt in the form of a pentagram, just beneath the chandelier in the sitting room. Their hands were interlocked, and the blond gripped his siblings' shoulders, who stood on either side of him. It was up to him to get them there, and when Piper began the countdown, they all stood anxiously, awaiting the moment when they were to orb into Lilandra's lair.

But right on the call of one, they were suddenly thrown by the scream of Phoebe, who was torn away from the formation. When the others opened their eyes, they all looked around, trying to find out what had happened. But before they could, soon Piper and Paige were hit as well. Wyatt, Chris and Mel all stood in shock.

"What's going on?" Mel said, confused.

"Orb Dad out of here now!" Chris ordered Henry, who quickly obeyed. His eyes shot around to try and find his mother and his aunts. When he did, he saw that they were spread out about the house, all lying on their backs, looking as if they had passed out. "Mel, check and see if they're okay!" he said.

While Mel did that, Chris saw Wyatt glancing around them, whipping from side to side.

"She's gotta be here."

"We just have to find her!"

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary in the house, which worried both of them. Chris couldn't see anything strange or different, let alone anybody who would have been doing it. How Lilandra could have planned such a quick attack, he didn't understand. She was just one person…

His back was to the living room. In what felt a second's time, he soon found his feet being lifted off the ground and his body flying right for the staircase. He managed to orb, but that only lessened the impact when he hit the wall just above the landing at the bottom of the stairs. He fell on top of it with a pained grunt.

At the attack, Wyatt turned around quickly. There, standing in the pathway between the living room and the sitting room, was Lilandra.

"I couldn't just let you come into my lair with your whole damn family," she said to Wyatt, her arms folded over her chest. Her thin lips formed into an undeniable smirk. "You're looking awfully well for someone who was just stabbed not too long ago."

"We're capable of a lot of things in this family," Wyatt said to her, not moving from his place. He didn't turn his head as he eyed his sister by the closet nearby, who was making sure their aunt Paige was still breathing.

"Trust me, I know." Lilandra approached Wyatt slowly, her back straight and her head held unmistakably high. "But I've come to make sure that that doesn't happen again."

"You're stupid for coming right to us…"

Lilandra opened her mouth to say something else, but all that came out was a sudden shout; she was suddenly flying through the air, and she hit the ceiling so hard that, when she fell, she had left an indentation and cracks in the wall. She thudded against the ground.

Chris panted quietly, holding his position from the base of the stairs. He was now standing.

"You okay?" Wyatt asked him.

"I feel like I was hit by a bag of bricks, but I've had worse."

"They're okay!" Mel announced from the kitchen, where their mom had landed. She stepped back into the sitting room. "They just look like they've been knocked out."

Lilandra stumbled to her feet. Wyatt had made the mistake of turning away just long enough to look at Mel, and she took full advantage of it, forming a fireball in her hand and throwing it right at the tall blond.

"Look out! _Fireball_!"

Chris had caught the fireball just in time, sending it flying in the opposite direction, toward the conservatory. It came in contact with one of the sets of curtains, which immediately caught flame. Mel froze them.

"Stupid witch!" Lilandra growled.

Angrily, Chris replied, "Stupid _bitch_!"

He thrust his hand out, using his telekinesis. Lilandra, however, was prepared for it this time, and she shimmered away, reappearing in the kitchen just behind Mel. She had a dagger out almost immediately, and it was against Mel's throat before any of them could even blink. Both Chris and Wyatt's mouths were partially open, and they tried to step forward, but Lilandra wrapped an arm around Mel's waist and tugged her back, tightening the blade against her neck.

"Come and closer, and she dies," she warned. Then she eyed Mel, baring her teeth in a snarl. "Try and freeze me, and you _die._"

"Did you forget that we can just do this?" Wyatt moved to lift an arm, but the second he did so, Lilandra gave a quick jerk of her hand, and Mel cried out. Thick, bright red blood began to dribble from a cut in her neck, just under her chin.

"You do _anything_, and she dies."

Wyatt and Chris looked at each other. They both knew that orbing wasn't fast enough to save Mel's life, and they weren't willing to risk it. Even lifting their hands in an attempt to attack would cause Lilandra to slit her throat, and that they couldn't risk either.

But then it suddenly hit him. Chris stared at his brother, giving him the _look_—the one that meant he had a plan up his sleeve. There was no way that he could verbalize it, because then Lilandra would overhear. He just hoped that Wyatt would understand, and would back him up when the time came. Wyatt got it, though, and he gave just the faintest hint of a nod.

Lilandra stared at both of them, a sinister chuckle escaping her. "Don't you want to save your sister? Or did you just want to see her bleed to death?"

Chris gave Melinda the look, too, but she was too scared to grasp it. It was then that he closed his eyes, willing his body to project its astral self out and onto the plane. Fortunately for him, his power activated right away, and his head slumped downward as he left his body, blacking out.

Lilandra stumbled just a little, tightening her grip on Mel. She eyed Chris. "What did he—"

Before she could finish speaking, Chris, who had suddenly reformed behind her said, "Turn around!"

In that split second of being caught off guard, Lilandra gave in, and her surprise caused her to turn around. When she did so, Chris said, "Now!" She turned her head around quickly.

"_Mel_!" Wyatt called.

All it took was that moment of letting her guard down for Lilandra to mildly lose her focus. And with it, Wyatt orbed his sister to him, keeping her close as he took a few steps back.

Lilandra cursed loudly and angrily. It was clear that she hadn't expected to be fooled like that. And Chris knew his body was in danger, resting there like that, and so he refocused on bringing his two halves back together. When he re-entered his body, he stumbled back from Lilandra, who was clutching the dagger so harshly, she looked like she might crush it.

"I've got a bone to pick with you," Chris announced to her. He stared at Lilandra intently.

"I don't care what you've got with me, witch. I'm going to kill you, just like I plan to kill the rest of your forsaken family. I hate all of you." Lilandra kept her ground, eyes moving quickly from Chris to Wyatt, and back again.

"God, what is _with_ all you demons? And _you_ in particular! Do _you_ not do things _differently_? Possessing my _other_ sibling, and trying to kill _another_ important person in my life?" He was clearly referring to Landon, although he doubted she knew him by name. Arms folded and eyebrows furrowed angrily, he continued: "What do you have against me in particular? What is your _issue_?"

"_You_ are my issue, witch," Lilandra spat out viciously. She pointed the dagger at him. "_You_. _You're_ the one who wrote that spell. I have never felt so much pain in all my life."

"That was the point," Chris responded flatly. He refrained from rolling his eyes. "You were supposed to _die_."

"Yes, well, I didn't. And now look what's happened." Lilandra eyed Wyatt again, making sure that he wasn't going to move from the place he was in. Once certain, she returned her focus to Chris. "Half of your family is down for the count, and here you are, asking stupid questions when you could be saving their lives."

"Mel said they were okay."

"What does she know?" Lilandra scoffed. "They may look like they've only passed out, but for all you know, it could be eternal slumber. Or it might even be something worse. When have you ever fully trusted your siblings and what they say?"

Wyatt, Chris and Mel all looked at each other briefly. But Chris' gaze hastily returned to Lilandra, just to make sure she hadn't moved.

"Got you worried now, don't I?" she asked teasingly. "You'll never know how to fix it, because you won't know what's wrong with them. Not unless you let me go." She shrugged her shoulders loftily. "It's very simple. My life for theirs."

Silence crept over them as the four individuals stood in place. Then, Lilandra began to chuckle softly.

"What do you say, witches? Want to save your family?"

"They wouldn't want to live, knowing what we had done for them," Chris said, although doing so hurt him. He couldn't imagine not being able to fix whatever had happened with his mother and aunts, but just the same, he knew they would never be forgiven if they allowed Lilandra to walk free and cause more havoc. They were going to have to take the risk of trusting in themselves and their abilities.

_He_ was going to have to trust his brother and sister, and himself.

"We're just gonna have to live with the doubt, then," Wyatt declared. Letting go of Mel, whose wound had been healed while Chris and Lilandra talked back and forth, he then stepped forward beside his brother. They were soon joined by their sister.

Lilandra looked as if she were about to attack, but Wyatt held his hand out and she suddenly froze in place, the dagger dropping from her hand as she reached up to grasp at her throat. She began to gag and wheeze, as if she were being choked. It was a power Wyatt used very infrequently, but here, it was fitting.

As she was slowly lifted off the floor, Mel stuck her hands out and began to repeatedly use her combustion power. Lilandra may have been partially immune to it, but that didn't stop the pain that came along with it. With each attack came a choked cry, and the demon clenched her eyes shut.

Chris, who was standing in between his siblings, reached out and gripped with each of his hands one of theirs. Wyatt used his other to hold Lilandra in place, while Mel continued to blast her. Lilandra's legs were thrashing back and forth in mid air.

"_Demon of plight,_" he began to chant, staring at Lilandra intently, "_urging us to fight. Together we three banish thee, from here until the end of eternity."_

Wyatt released Lilandra from his grip and Mel ceased using her powers right after Chris finished the spell. But the demon remained suspended in mid air, her body seemingly frozen in place. Then, from within her came a golden light. Lilandra opened her mouth and began to scream, while bursts of brilliant energy poured from every orifice of her body. She was soon enveloped by it, and in a flash and a boom—Wyatt, Chris and Melinda covered their eyes to protect themselves—she was gone, leaving nothing in her wake.

It took a moment for them to be entirely sure that she was gone. They all glanced around them, and Wyatt even stepped forward, standing right where Lilandra had been, just beside the fireplace in the dining room. Normally it wouldn't have been such a concern, but given the proclivity this particular demon had for fleeing from death, they couldn't be too careful. It was soon decided that they had, in fact, finally managed to get rid of her, if only because Wyatt and Mel took the time to really think about the words in Chris' spell.

"Banishment's a nice way to go!" Wyatt said.

"Yeah, seriously. Now she can't ever come back." Mel smiled, looking mighty pleased.

"That's just one problem down, though," Chris sighed. His joy was short lived, because his mind went right to his mother and aunts. "Now we just gotta hope that whatever Lilandra did to them is entirely reversible without her being here…"

"Come here," Wyatt said suddenly. He reached out and gripped both Chris' and Melinda's wrists, and without giving them a chance to respond, he orbed them up and away from the manor. Where they ended up was a place that neither of the younger two knew, but to where Wyatt had recently been.

"Where _are_ we?" Chris asked worriedly. "Wyatt, where'd you take us?"

"This is Lilandra's lair," Wyatt explained. Saying nothing more than that, he walked toward the table in the middle of the compact, dirty place, tapping its dusty surface. "Well! Lookee at what's sitting on here."

Chris turned his attention away from the shelves of opaque bottles he was looking at and toward the table, upon which sat an open book about the same size as their _Book of Shadows_. Although not one of them attempted to grab it, they all knew what it was: the _Grimoire_. And on the page was an intricate list of ingredients, above which sat the name of the potion she had used.

"She must have had some already made, because it looks like this would take a long time." Mel eyed the contents of the list from afar. "It even says at the bottom of the page that it needs to sit and stew for a few days…"

"Let's all thank her for being stupid enough not to know that she needed to ward her place before coming and attacking us," Wyatt said with a laugh.

"There's no way that she wouldn't have had this place already warded," Chris said, shaking his head. "Not with all those demons chasing after her. My guess is that it was selective warding. And you must have been let through…she must have she modified it for you. She probably expected to keep you around longer, under her control.

"Still." Piper's eldest cleared his throat. "Now we know what the potion is, which means that we can counteract it. Come up with some kind of panacea."

"Of all the things in the _Grimoire_, she uses a knock out draught?" Chris snorted, finally reading the page. "It seems…I dunno. Like she wasn't thinking."

"Maybe she wasn't." Mel shrugged. "Maybe she just made a mistake. And…well." She rubber her upper arm. "Look what it cost her."

What Mel said made sense. To err was human, after all. But Lilandra wasn't human. Still, demons made mistakes too.

And apparently, the mistakes were occasionally grave ones.


	22. Another Day

Author's Notes: All right, everyone. This is the last chapter of this story! I hesitated in posting it because, in a way, I didn't really want it to end. I had a lot of fun writing this story, and I think it's definitely up there in terms of one of my favorites, next to the story that it spawned from. Thanks to everyone who stuck through it and gave me feedback, because I really appreciate that. This chapter is dedicated to you!

And this may be the end of this story, but that doesn't mean it'll be the end of my writing. I'm working on a Supernatural fic _The Choices We Make_, and since summer vacation isn't over for another several weeks, I may be able to squeeze some other stuff out. We'll see. At any rate, please leave me a review letting me know what you thought about this chapter, the story in general, etc. I always appreciate and love reading them. :) Again, thank you all!

* * *

Reversing the effects of the draught that Lilandra had used on Piper, Phoebe and Paige hadn't been difficult, particularly due to Leo's help. Wyatt, Chris and Melinda were capable, but their father still had decades of experience under his belt that they didn't, and that proved to be invaluable. The three sisters were all awakened from the knock out draught within just a couple of hours of having been hit with it, and none of them were really the wiser. They were all incensed about having missed out on the fight, but in reality, Piper's children knew that it was probably best that they didn't have to go through it. Though fully capable of fighting, they had passed it on to Wyatt, Chris and Mel for a reason.

Time passed by quickly over the next couple of days. Everyone went back to their daily schedules as they always did after a demon fight, but even with that, Chris' mind eventually drifted back to Landon, and what had happened with him. It was eating at him little by little; bothering him while he worked, while he read, while he helped his charges…He kept waiting for Landon to call, but nothing came his way.

So, finally, some few days later—it was nearly a week since the incident, if Chris remembered right—he worked up the courage to call Landon himself and see what was going on with him. Landon seemed a little bit more distant than usual, but Chris had been prepared for that. In fact, he had been preparing himself all week for the worst possible scenarios, just wanting to be safe. The last thing he needed on top of everything that had just happened was a broken heart from false hope.

Landon had agreed to meet him sometime later on that week, and after some finagling, they set the day for Monday—the day upon which they normally met up. Chris suggested the local bistro just a ways from his house, which Landon agreed to. Monday was only a couple of days away, and over those days, Chris worked a lot, so he wasn't terribly concerned about keeping himself busy.

One night, during his lunch, Chris was sitting in the break room, absently picking at a pile of mostly eaten spaghetti on his plate, when he heard the door open. He lifted his head up, and when he saw who it was, he chuckled.

"Hey, Mom."

Chris had suavely been avoiding any alone time with his mother at home, knowing that what was about to happen was bound to happen eventually—the talk. Sure, they had discussed Landon a little bit when he had brought him home, but not with the same depth that Chris and Piper usually talked about things. And Piper had respected her son's privacy up until this point, but now, it seemed, he had finally given her the in she was looking for, and she was most certainly going to take it.

Piper sat down casually across from him and crossed her legs beneath the table. "How's it going?"

"Same old, same old," Chris said, taking a bite of spaghetti.

"You've been working a lot lately. Hope it isn't too much for you."

"Nah, it's nice, actually. You know how I like keeping busy."

"Oh, yes. 'Course I do."

Through a slightly full mouth, Chris returned the question. "How about with you?"

"Not too bad. Had to send a chef home for the night, so we'll be a little shorthanded, but I called someone and they said they could come in. So I'm not too worried. I'm taking my break, too."

Chris snorted faintly. Swallowing, he then said, "How convenient, hm?"

An amused smirk appeared on Piper's face. "And just what are you implying?"

"You know exactly what I'm implying."

For a moment, Piper remained entirely silent. But after, she moved in, resting her sleeveless arms on the table. She eyed her son thoughtfully. "Have I ever told you about Dan, Chris?"

"Dan?" The dark haired witch paused, running through his memory banks. When nothing came up, he said, "No. Don't think so."

"There…was a time, in my life, right after I'd met your father and had been with him for a while, that I decided we needed to take a break." Piper lowered her head slightly. "And in the process, I ended up dating this man named Dan who had moved in next door. He was a really great guy…" She trailed off, but then shook her head with a light groan. "Too great, actually. But there came a time when Dan started getting jealous of your dad, and so he dug up some dirt on him. It ended up with him finding your dad's army records. But, anyway, I broke it off with him and…long story short, he eventually found out that I was a witch."

For the most part, Chris knew the stories of his mom's personal life. He remembered the hellacious period she and his father had gone through around his inception_ and_ conception, and how rough things were even after that. But anything before that had seemed to stay close mouthed around their house. Anything before the death of his aunt Prue, it would seem. And although this was new to him, it wasn't very exciting. But it was relatable; that was what kept his attention.

"What did he do?" Chris asked.

"I think you know what he did," Piper said. "He…well. Freaked out, more or less. It didn't help any that we were fighting to control this genie at the time, which was the whole source of the problems in the first place, but." She sighed. "I tried to talk to Dan about it, and he basically shrugged me off, like what had happened between us didn't mean a thing to him." She clasped her hands together and pursed her lips momentarily. Her voice wavered just a little. "I still remember what he said to me. 'I wish I didn't see what I did."

There were very few times in which Chris had ever seen his mom get emotional over something that didn't involve the family. So it was a little surprising to him when he saw her look away, and even heard her sniff faintly. When she looked back at him, he creased his forehead just a little.

"In the end, after saving the genie, it was actually nice enough to grant me the wish of giving Dan peace of mind. So…he forgot about everything. Forgot about us, about finding out about my being a witch…all of it. And he eventually moved away. But the pain was still there, because I hadn't forgotten."

"What did Dad think of it?"

"I think your dad was just happy I chose him," Piper said. "He had never particularly cared for Dan, and I can understand why. They got in a fight once." That made her chuckle. "But what I'm trying to get at here is that I moved on. I found happiness with someone else, and now I can't imagine my life any other way."

It never ceased to amaze Chris just how on the money his mother could be in pinpointing the exact things that were bothering him. He stared at her, almost in disbelief at first, before he turned his gaze downward and chuckled. "How the hell do you _always know_?"

"Chris, I'm your mother. I'll _always_ know what's going on with you in some way, shape or form." Piper reached out and took her son's free hand. "And I'll always be here for you to help however I can. Don't ever think I won't want to, or that I won't listen to you. Especially in matters of the heart."

Damn it, the young witch thought. There was no reason for him to feel like he was going to cry right then and there. No reason at all. Yet for some inexplicable one, he felt his throat tighten and could feel the backs of his eyes warming up, all signs that he was preparing to. He blinked continually for several seconds straight, trying to keep his eyes from moistening.

"Thanks," was all he managed to say.

Piper gripped his hand tighter, and rubbed her thumb over it. "I love you. Always."

"I love you too, Mom."

"Are you going to be okay?"

Now it was Chris' turn to talk. He gave a deep, pensive, yet unsure sigh. "I don't really know. He didn't call for nearly a week, so I finally called him, and he seemed distant. We agreed to meet up. But…just…all week. I dunno. I think I've been preparing myself for the worst."

"You don't expect to get through this?"

"In all honesty? No, I don't."

"Are you not _willing_ to?"

Chris felt mildly offended by that question, and he showed it momentarily before he realized his mother meant no harm in asking it. He sighed again. "I am, but I don't think _he_ is."

"What makes you think that?"

"Secondhand experience. The way he was acting on the phone…and the way he acted after he woke up, when I healed him."

"Are you scared that he's not going to be able to keep your secret and that you'll have to modify his memory?" Piper had told Chris of several events in her past in which that had been necessary, so it was plausible.

"In a way, yeah. I…don't want to forget him, Mom. I don't want to _lose_ him. But I think I may have already." Those warm tears behind his eyes were still prickling, and Chris began blinking more and more, fighting them.

"All you can do is go in there and meet him, and be yourself," Piper explained. "You can't force the decision on him any more than I could on Dan. I hate to say it, but this kind of stuff happens." Her tone lightened some. "But it won't always be this way. Keep that in mind."

What his mother said was true. She, along with both of his aunts, had ended up married and with children. Granted, he was far away from worrying about marrying or having children, but the idea of a nice, long-term relationship was nonetheless appealing to him. And it _was_ possible with mortals. He had her, his aunt Paige and his late grandma to thank for those models…

"It'll be okay," Piper reassured him, squeezing his hand. "If not him, then someone else. You don't get a limited number of chances."

Chris nodded. "Yeah."

Suddenly, the alarm on his watch began to beep.

"Oh, fuck—"

"_Christopher_."

"Sorry." He looked at his mom, slightly embarrassed. He was still doing that, cursing in front of her. Why it bothered her so much he would never know, but he followed her rules. "My break's over, so I need to get back."

Piper let go of his hand then. "All right. If you need to talk…remember: I'm here."

As Chris got up from the table, he took his plate over to the trash and dumped the few remnants of his spaghetti into it. He held the dish and the fork in his hand, smiling.

"Thanks, Mom."

. . .

Chris awaited Landon's arrival at the coffee bistro that Monday morning somewhat anxiously. He felt like no matter what he did, he couldn't get his heartbeat to slow down. His hands glistened a little with sweat, and he rubbed them against his brown cargo shorts. They had agreed upon meeting at 10. Not too early, but not too late. A good time for morning coffee and maybe a muffin. But the anxiety that Chris felt—even despite the conversation with his mother—was preventing him from fully enjoying the poppy seed muffin and dark coffee that were in front of him.

When he saw Landon's car pass and head into the parking lot behind the bistro, he felt his heart do a flip. He needed to remind himself to keep calm. Drinking coffee wasn't really going to help that, but he wasn't thinking about that. He hadn't drunk much of it anyway.

The older man appeared on the street not too long after his car disappeared into the parking lot, and he approached the table Chris was sitting at. When Chris moved to stand up, he stopped himself, because Landon was already taking a seat.

"Hey," the younger one settled on saying.

"Hey," Landon replied.

There was an undeniable tenseness between them that was worrisome, and that made Chris feel even more anxious than before. He didn't really like that, but it wasn't like he could fix it. It took two to tango, and it would take the both of them to fix the situation. He couldn't yet tell if Landon was willing.

Chris settled on some small talk, just to get the conversation flowing. "How've you been?"

"Been okay." Landon shifted in his chair, then looked at the coffee that Chris had ordered. "I should probably get me one of those."

"You can have mine." He extended his drink to his boyfriend. "I'm not really thirsty. Mostly hungry."

"Oh. Okay. Thanks." Landon smiled a little and took the proffered coffee, sipping briefly at it. Since they both liked theirs straight and dark, there was no reason to for him not to drink it all.

The conversation fell into silence after that point. It didn't take long for that silence to become too much for Chris to handle, and he eventually said:

"Look, I'm…just gonna come right out and say this, cause I don't know how to, otherwise. But…you and me. Are we okay?"

The sigh that came from Landon was almost like a punch to the gut. It was deep and uncertain; plus, mixed with the avoidant glance of the other's eyes, it spoke volumes. He didn't even need to say anything for Chris to know what the answer was.

"I don't know," Landon eventually offered.

"You don't…know," Chris repeated, slowly.

"I don't know. I…really want us to be. I really do. But I just…God, Chris, this is still so hard for me to grasp. And the fact that it's all _true_ makes it just…" Landon took a sip of the coffee he had, looking uncertain still. "I don't know."

"I don't mean to be pushy, Landon, but I really need more than an 'I don't know'. I've been trying to deal with this for a week. Longer than that, even. You've had a lot of time to think about it. If you really cared about me as much as you say you do, I don't think that it would take this long."

"That's not fair, Chris," Landon said. He furrowed his brow. "You _know_ I care about you. A _lot_. And I know you care about me, too."

"Then answer me this: are you okay with it, and do you think you could live with it?"

The question was so blunt and forward that it surprised both of them. But Chris had been holding it in for a long time, and he needed to know. But even before Landon responded, it slowly dawned on Chris that this kind of discomfort between them would never completely go away. Even if Landon said yes, there would always be some kind of inkling in the back of the other's mind, one that would keep him from fully giving himself to Chris. And really, the young witch wasn't going to give himself completely to someone who couldn't do the same. Having hang-ups about it all was understandable, but that wasn't conducive to a healthy relationship.

"No," Landon finally answered.

Chris had thankfully braced himself for this. It stung, but not nearly as badly as it could have. "Okay," he said quietly.

Neither of them said anything for a while after that. Landon drank his coffee and Chris picked bits and pieces off of his muffin. There was no anger in the air, but there was clearly discomfort and hesitation still. But then, Landon spoke. He said:

"I'll keep your secret, Chris. If you don't wanna believe anything else I say, at least believe that. I promise you."

"I trust you, Landon. And I know you will." He nodded slowly, because he did trust him to do that. Even _if_ they were no longer together. Landon had never broken any of the promises he had ever made to Chris, which was quite possibly the only reason why he would believe him here.

"Always."

That seemed to be the end of it right there. The conversation really had no way to go other than toward good-byes, and they both sensed it, because soon Landon was shifting in the cool metal chair again, eying the dark haired witch across from him.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"I know. Me, too. But I understand." His voice was a little distant, if not somewhat resigned. But Chris couldn't really help it.

More silence followed. After about a minute, Landon cleared his throat and looked at his watch. "I should…probably get going. I have to go into work for a short shift today, and I haven't gotten much done around the house like I had planned to."

"All right," Chris said.

As Landon moved to stand, so did he, mostly out of politeness. They stood there, momentarily awkwardly, until the older man grabbed his cup of coffee and smiled faintly.

"It was good seeing you," he said.

"You, too," Chris agreed. He smiled—genuinely, if not a little sadly. It_ had_ been nice to see Landon one final time. He wanted to say 'see you around' or 'see you later', but he didn't think that would happen. In fact, it would have probably been best if they never did again.

Interestingly enough, it had been Landon who said it. "See you around?"

"Sure, yeah. Of course."

Landon gave a nod then, moving slowly away from the table. He offered Chris a good-bye, and was about to walk toward his car, but was suddenly stopped by the hand gripping his wrist. He turned his head to look, and that was when Chris kissed him. Landon didn't pull back, and the kiss was slow, also somewhat somber. When the young witch pulled back, he let out a gentle exhalation of breath through his nose.

"Good-bye."

"Bye," Landon said softly. He hesitated for a minute before turning back around again, making his way to his car.

Even if things between them weren't going to work out, Chris knew that everything was going to be all right. He knew that _he_ was going to be, too. It had been a good experience for the both of them, and hurt though he was, he would move on, learn, and grow from it. That was what his mother had told him, and he trusted her completely. In matters of the heart, just like with everything else Chris had ever gone to her with, she seemed to know her stuff.

So maybe that was why he didn't feel angry toward Landon as he watched the other walk further away from the bistro table. Maybe that was why, as his now ex-boyfriend rounded the corner to the parking lot, Chris only looked at him for a moment before looking down at the table beside him. He didn't smile, but he didn't frown, either. He just sighed lightly.

Tomorrow was a new day, he told himself.

If not Landon, then certainly someone else.


End file.
